IngentaConnect Causal beliefs and behaviour change post-myocardial infarction: H...

Authors: French, David P.¹; James, Delyth²; Horne, Rob³; Weinman, John⁴

Source: British Journal of Health Psychology, Volume 10, Number 2, May 2005 , pp. 167-182(16)

Publisher: British Psychological Society

Abstract:

Introduction. Weinman, Petrie, Sharpe, and Walker (2000) showed that the causal attributions of a sample of first-time myocardial infarction (MI) patients and their spouses from Auckland, New Zealand, were associated with changes in health-related behaviour over the first 6 months post-MI. However, their analyses did not control for pre-MI health-related behaviour.

Method. This paper reports a re-analyses of the Auckland data, and a replication study conducted with 155 first-time MI patients in Brighton, United Kingdom (UK), to investigate whether baseline attributions for MI were related to health-related behaviour change at 6 months (N=132). Spouses (N=85) also completed the attribution questionnaire at baseline.

Results. There was no consistent relationship between the causal attributions of patients and subsequent behaviour change in Auckland and Brighton. For both samples, causal attributions were associated with pre-MI behaviour.

Conclusions. The data from both samples suggest that the causal attributions of MI patients and their spouses may be realistic, but not predictive of subsequent changes in behaviour.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1348/135910705X26722

Affiliations: 1: School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK 2: Welsh School of Pharmacy, Cardiff University, UK 3: Centre for Health Care Research, University of Brighton, UK 4: Department of Psychology (at Guys's), Kings College, London, UK

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Causal beliefs and behaviour change post-myocardial infarction: How are they related?