Health Belief Model Interpretation of Compliance Factors in a Weight Loss and Cardiac Rehabilitation Programme

The aim of the research was to establish the common and/or different factors associated with compliance or noncompliance in either a weight loss or a cardiac rehabilitation programme. A questionnaire was designed from a revised formulation of the original Health Belief Model and a pilot study was run on 22 weight loss and 13 cardiac subjects. The modified questionnaire was then completed by 37 compliers and 19 noncompliers with a weight loss programme and 11 compliers and 19 noncompliers with a cardiac rehabilitation programme. Compliance was associated with exercise enjoyment, self-motivation, and the need to stay on the programme. The major reasons for noncompliance were the complexity of the required behaviour changes, inconvenience, time constraints, and the ability to cope independently of the programmes. Particularly regarding the weight loss programme, noncompliance arising from the required simultaneous changes to eating and exercise patterns could be reduced by teaching alternative coping skills and realistic goal setting. Cardiac patients are faced with the life-threatening nature of their disease, but there is a lack of overt disease symptoms among weight loss subjects. This results in a need to inform obese subjects, preferably using a multi-disciplinary approach, about the health risks resulting from noncompliance.