Participants’ Perspectives of a Primary Exercise-Based Prevention Program for Cardiac Patients: A Prepost Intervention Qualitative Case Study

Table 5

Comparison of 4 factors that may influence participation and adherence to primary and secondary CVD prevention programs for completing and noncompleting participants.

Theme	Completers ()	Noncompleters or dropouts ()
Knowledge or awareness of the disease	Made aware to risk factors + after participating in the program
	Detect alarm signals before onset of the disease	Detect alarm signals, often after onset of the disease
	Identify risk factors related to their health problem at start and finish
	Target: preventing the disease	Target: treating the disease
	Seem to have acquired more knowledge about risk factors, especially in those completing the program	Seem to have acquired risk factor knowledge. Aware of their condition but willingness to make changes
	Capable of identifying barriers to physical activity and finding solutions, especially after completion of the program	Capable of identifying barriers to physical activity, but have more difficulty in countering them (illness, cost, etc.)
	Have a better ability to self-identify in a context of training or lifestyle changes in the end
Perception of personal efficacy	Those who have better perception of personal efficacy at the outset are more satisfied with their journey
	Previous experiences influence their perception of personal efficacy (+ and -)
	+ Confident and positive about achieving their goals during the program	A little - confident and positive to achieve their goals during the program
	Better perception of their physical fitness at the end of the program	In general, - better perception of their physical fitness than completers
	Feel able to perform healthy behaviors with greater ease through the program	With difficulties and barriers experienced through the program, feel - able to perform behaviors with ease
	Perception of personal efficacy varies, often depending on the proximity of reaching a goal
	Difficulty in achieving goals, affecting self-efficacy and causing discouragement
Motivation	Essential to the process of lifestyle change in all study participants
	Motivation varies through the program: achievement of objectives, feedback and follow-up by kinesiologists enhance their motivation
	Lack of motivation: significant barrier to adherence to physical activity	Lack of motivation: barrier that causes participants to give up
	Previous experiences influence their motivation (initially and throughout the program)
	Motivation + great among those who are initially positive to engage in this process and willing to pursue it	Less enthusiastic than persevering participants to continue in this step in the end
Feeling of belonging in the program and the relationship of trust	Signing a contract for achieving goals develops “a sense of belonging in the program”
	Recognize that tracking from their kinesiologists to motivate and lead them in their coaching is an essential part of these programs
	“Relationship of trust” established with kinesiologists was an important factor in participants’ behavior and the success of their objectives.	“Relationship of trust” established with kinesiologists was not so well developed due to lack of adherence to activities
	Increased sense of belonging in the program by participating in most activities (health capsules, exercise sessions, etc.)	Have less developed a sense of belonging in the program by abstaining from many activities (health capsules, exercise sessions, etc.)