Abstract
Health anxiety (HA) refers to a person's preoccupation or worry about having a serious disease or illness (Asmundson et al., 2001), which potentially could be heightened for one who is already worried about a disease or illness that they have, such as cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this study was to analyze the health anxiety perceived by clients attending a cardiac rehabilitation exercise training program. Using the Illness Attitude Scale (IAS; Kellner, 1986) modified for cardiac disease, data from 101 men,and 42 women were assessed. Scores on the 9 subscales (worry about illness [WAI], concerns about pain [CAP]; health habits [HH]; hypochondriacal beliefs [HB]; thanatophobia [T]; disease phobia [DP]; bodily preoccupation [BP]; treatment experience [TE]; and effects of symptoms [ES]) were compared at the beginning and end of a 12-week cardiac rehabilitation program. Comparisons of pre-and post-program scores demonstrated significant decreases (p < .01) for WAI, T, TE, ES, and overall IAS. In conclusion, this study revealed an important finding that the cardiac rehabilitation program in a group environment will help cardiac patients that are enrolled in an individually prescribed exercise training rehabilitation program to reduce worries about illness(es), fears about death, frequencies of treatment, negative effects of symptoms, and overall anxiety towards their health. Such reductions may allow clients to focus on the health benefits of their program.
