Brief lifestyle advice in cardiac care
An experimental study on message source and framing
Renée V.H. IJzerman (Universiteit Leiden, Universiteit van Amsterdam)
Rosalie Van Der Vaart (Universiteit Leiden)
Linda D. Breeman (Universiteit Leiden)
Inge van den Broek (Harteraad)
Mike Keesman (Universiteit Leiden)
R. A. Kraaijenhagen (NDDO Institute for Prevention and Early Diagnostics (NIPED), Amsterdam, Vital10, Amsterdam)
Thomas Reijnders (Universiteit Leiden)
Margo Weerts (Verbinden en Vernieuwen)
A.W.M. Evers (Erasmus MC, TU Delft - Medical Delta, Universiteit Leiden, TU Delft - Human Factors)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
Objective
Communicating risk information and offering lifestyle advice are important goals in cardiac rehabilitation. However, the most effective way and the most effective source to communicate this information are not yet known. Therefore, we examined the effect of source (cardiologist, physiotherapist) and framing (gain, loss) of brief lifestyle advice on patients’ intention-to-change-lifestyle.
Methods
In an online experimental study, 636 cardiac patients (40% female, 67 (10) yrs.) were randomly assigned to one of four textual vignettes. Effect of source and framing on intention-to-change-lifestyle (assessed using a 5-point Likert scale) was analysed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA).
Results
Patients expressed positive intention-to-change-lifestyle after receiving advice from the cardiologist (M = 4.1) and physiotherapist (M = 3.9). However, patients showed significantly higher intention-to-change-lifestyle after receiving advice from the cardiologist (0.58 [0.54–0.61]) when compared with the physiotherapist (0.52 [0.48–0.56]), (F[1,609] = 7.06, P = 0.01). Gain-framed and loss-framed advice appeared equally effective. However, communicating risks (loss) was remembered by only 9% of patients, whereas 89% remembered benefits (gain).
Conclusions
Our study shows the value of cardiologists and physiotherapists communicating brief lifestyle advice, as cardiac patients expressed positive intention for lifestyle change after receiving advice, irrespective of framing. Lifestyle advice should include benefits due to better recall.
help_outline