Suggestions

Permission for Use

Osteoarthritis and Exercise

Questionnaire Results

During each fitness evaluation, Marie was asked to fill out three different questionnaires pertaining to her pain from arthritis, her beliefs about exercise and her exercise self-efficacy. Each of these three are explained below.

The Pain Interference Estimate assesses the extent to which pain interferes with daily activities and exercise. It was developed and tested with persons with and without chronic pain, including arthritis, and is a 5-item self-report questionnaire. This questionnaire links pain report to specific activities and is useful in understanding the relationship between pain and activity level.

Upon Marie's first visit to the research lab, she reported in her Pain Interference Estimate that her pain occasionally interfered with her ability to stand or sit, to engage in social activities and to exercise. She also reported that pain frequently and severely limits her ability to participate in recreational activities and to perform work. After 12 months of regular exercise, Marie reports that she is able to perform most activities in which pain rarely interferes.

The Beliefs About Exercise questionnaire is a 23-item questionnaire using a 7-point reply scale. Marie's exercise beliefs were all positive beliefs about the benefits of regular exercise. These beliefs were consistent from her first visit to the 12 month re-evaluation.

The Exercise Self-Efficacy Scale consists of 15 items on a 0-10 scale. Self-efficacy is measure of the strength of a individual's expectation that he/she can successfully perform a specific behavior. Self-efficacy has been shown to be important in a number of domains such as pain management and exercise. Low self-efficacy for exercise is very often associated with inactivity and poor health, and can be more important than injury or illness in explaining exercise behavior. Exercise self-efficacy has been shown to change over time and that change is associated with a change in exercise behavior.

On her first visit, Marie reported on the self-efficacy questionnaire that she cannot exercise when there are competing interests, without support from family or friends, when there is no one to exercise with, or when her exercise session is not enjoyable. She also reports she would have trouble exercising when on vacation. Her overall confidence rating was a 10 (certain that I could do it), while her average fell in the middle of the continuum at a 6. After 12 months regular exercise, Marie's self-efficacy is high. Her lowest score is a 7, where she feels it may be difficult to exercise when on vacation. Her overall confidence rating is again a 10, but her average now falls at 9.

Questions

Which findings are significant?

What is VO2 max?

Why is exercise self-efficacy important?