Adherence in Health and Rehabilitation Interventions: Advances, Innovations, and Outcomes

A special issue of Healthcare (ISSN 2227-9032). This special issue belongs to the section "Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 744

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Physical Therapy and Kinesiology, University of Massachusetts, Lowell, MA 01854 USA
Interests: physical therapy; health behavior; health education; rehabilitation; pain management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Health and rehabilitation interventions typically require people to adhere to specific treatments, exercises, or programs to optimize the associated benefits. Conversely, a lack of adherence may negatively impact outcomes, including the validity of efficacy studies and implementation science studies, adoption and implementation of evidence-based practices and guidelines, and health and wellness of individuals and communities. Adherence often requires an element of behavior change—either at the individual level or across families, communities, and healthcare organizations. In this Special Issue of Healthcare, titled “Adherence in Health and Rehabilitation Interventions: Advances, Innovations, and Outcomes”, we seek to advance our shared scientific understanding of adherence in health and rehabilitation interventions through a collection of articles examining new advances, novel approaches, and best practices for promoting adherence. Scoping and systematic review articles, pilot studies, efficacy studies, secondary data analyses, and feasibility studies of novel approaches, particularly approaches that use technologies to augment treatments in the home and community setting, are of particular interest.

Prof. Dr. Julie J. Keysor
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • adherence
  • rehabilitation
  • health and wellness
  • behavior change
  • compliance

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 899 KiB  
Article
6-Minute Walk Test: Exploring Factors Influencing Perceived Intensity in Older Patients Undergoing Cardiac Rehabilitation—A Qualitative Study
by Gilbert Büsching and Jean-Paul Schmid
Healthcare 2025, 13(7), 735; https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13070735 - 26 Mar 2025
Viewed by 450
Abstract
Background/Objectives: In cardiac rehabilitation, the 6-minute walk test (6-MWT) is a standard assessment of initial evaluation. It measures walking distance as a surrogate of submaximal physical performance. Thereby, a subjective rating of perceived exertion, assessed by the Borg Scale, plays an important [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: In cardiac rehabilitation, the 6-minute walk test (6-MWT) is a standard assessment of initial evaluation. It measures walking distance as a surrogate of submaximal physical performance. Thereby, a subjective rating of perceived exertion, assessed by the Borg Scale, plays an important role. It has been observed that patients with coronary heart disease often rate themselves lower than the person supervising the test. Since this discrepancy might lead to inadequate exercise prescription, this study aims to explore reasons for low self-rating. Methods: In a qualitative study, influencing factors for low self-rating were collected from patients using interviews and questionnaires and from a focus group of physiotherapists. The evaluation was based on the grounded theory. Results: Self-image after retirement emerged as the central factor, as it shaped patients’ behavior during the 6-MWT and their subsequent self-assessment. Additionally, five different categories of causal conditions were detected from ten patients and five therapists: fears, physical limitations, test instruction, testing conditions, and therapists’ expectations. Conclusions: Patients with coronary heart disease had poor self-perception of exercise intensity and limited understanding of the meaning of the Borg Scale and the 6-MWT. Physiotherapists should place greater emphasis on patients’ perceived exertion to be able to effectively tailor exercise prescription and, therefore, improve attainment of cardiac rehabilitation goals and long-term adherence. Full article
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