AFFECTIVE EXERCISE EXPERIENCES PREDICT PHYSICAL ACTIVITY BEHAVIOUR IN CARDIAC OUTPATIENTS WITHIN A HOMEBASED CARDIAC REHABILITATION PROGRAM

Purpose: This study aimed to confirm the factorial validity of the Affective Exercise Experiences (AFFEXX) questionnaire in a cardiac population and determine whether affective exercise experiences (AEE) explain significant variance in physical activity (PA) behaviour over 10 months in cardiac outpatients following home-based cardiac rehabilitation (HBCR).Methods: Participants were recruited from ITER study between December 2021 and April 2023, including those with stable cardiovascular disease (CVD) capable of ambulating independently and reading and writing in Italian. Exclusion criteria were positive graded exercise tests, physical limitations, or cognitive difficulties. Participants underwent baseline assessments, including clinical evaluations, PA assessment (PA1) through the 7-day Physical Activity Recall, and the AFFEXX questionnaire, followed by a moderate intensity treadmill walking test and a standardized educational intervention. Followup data were collected 10 months later, repeating the PA assessment (PA2). The AFFEXX questionnaire assessed attraction- antipathy towards PA and core affective experiences across dimensions of pleasure- displeasure, energy-tiredness, and calmness-tension, alongside antecedent appraisals like interest-boredom and empowerment-damage.Results: Out of 191 patients enrolled, 177 completed the study (156 M/21 F, aged 67 ± 11). Diagnoses included acute myocardial infarction, coronary artery bypass grafting, and percutaneous cardiac intervention. The model demonstrated a good fit to the data, confirming the AFFEXX model’s factorial validity. Core affective experiences significantly predicted attraction-antipathy towards exercise, while antecedent appraisals had a positive but non-significant relationship with core affect. The model explained 91% of core affective exercise experiences and 73% of attraction. The regression analysis showed that PA2 was significantly predicted by attraction towards exercise (b = 2.5, p \ 0.001) and PA1 (b = 0.39, p \ 0.001), explaining 38% of the variance in PA2 Conclusions: This study confirmed the AFFEXX model’s factorial validity in a cardiac population. AEE significantly predicted longterm PA behaviour, highlighting their potential as predictors in cardiac rehabilitation. The findings suggest that emotional states like energy, calmness, and pleasure contribute to shaping overall attraction towards exercise, with implications for integrating PA into cardiac patients’lifestyles