ABSTRACT

Cognitive models of health behavior change emphasize the rational decision process that underlines health decisions. Despite this, the cognitive models aren�t comprehensive enough to catch both the motivational and the affective aspects of health decisions. We decided to include an affective component, specifically compensatory health beliefs (CHB), to the already validated cognitive constructs. CHB are a self-regulatory strategy deployed by the individual, who attempts to minimize the negative effects of a health-risk behavior by engaging into a compensatory health-protective one. The aim of this study is to identify the relationship between motivation types (specifically the integrated type) and implementation intentions in predicting the activation of CHB, as well as the role played by CHB and self-efficacy in the dietary habits in a sample of coronary heart disease patients. Our analyses reveal that integrated motivation mediates the impact of implementation intentions on CHB in coronary heart disease patients. Analysis show that the variance of the nutrition style is best explained by CHB but the addition of self-efficacy also improves the explained variance of the nutrition style.

KEYWORDS: compensatory health beliefs, self-efficacy, types of motivation, implementation intentions.

PAGES: 219-231