Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among cardiac rehabilitation knowledge, educational need and health behavior practice in patients with coronary artery disease and explain factors influencing health behavior practice.
Method: The research participants were 189 patients with coronary artery disease from general hospital located in Korea. Self-evaluation questionnaires were used to collect the data. Data was collected from January to May, 2020. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent t-test, one-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficients and multiple regression with the SPSS 24.0 program.
Results: There were significant positive relationships between cardiac rehabilitation knowledge and health behavior practice (r = .37, p < .001), and significant positive relationships between educational need and health behavior practice (r = .17, p = .022). Factors influencing health behavior practice were identified, the most critical predictive factor was age (≥80) (β = .52), followed by cardiac rehabilitation knowledge (β = .42), regular exercise (No) (β = -.25), family history (No) (β = .24), age (60-69) (β = .22), cohabitation (No) (β = -.20) and educational needs (β = .17). The explanation power of this model was 50% and it was statistically significant (F = 13.42, p < .001).
Conclusion: This study suggests that cardiac rehabilitation knowledge and educational need should be considered in enhancing cardiac rehabilitation programs designed for patients with coronary artery disease.
Keywords: Coronary artery disease; Health behavior; Knowledge; Need; Patients.