Author(s)

Taofeek O. Awotidebe¹, Victor O. Adeyeye², Rita N. Ativie³, Rufus A. Adedoyin^1*, Adebusola O. Borode¹, Michael O. Balogun^2,4, Mukadas A. Akindele⁵

¹Department of Medical Rehabilitation, College of Health Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
²Cardiac Care Unit, Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospitals Complex, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
³Department of Medical Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences and Technology, University of Nigeria, Enugu, Nigeria.
⁴Department of Medicine, College Health Sciences, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
⁵Department of Physiotherapy, College of Medical Sciences, Bayero University Kano, Kano, Nigeria.

Objectives: Psychosocial factors are important determinants of cardiovascular health outcomes in rehabilitation. However, the relationship between exercise performance and individual factors remained poorly understood. This study investigated the relationship between functional capacity and psychosocial correlates of exercise in Nigerian patients with hypertension. Study Design and Setting: This quasi-experimental study recruited 120 patients with hypertension (≥140/90 ≤ 179/109 mmHg) from the Cardiac Care Unit of a Nigerian university teaching using purposive sampling technique. Functional capacity was assessed using the 6-minute walk test and maximum oxygen consumption (VO₂ max) was estimated. Participants also underwent a 30-minute self-paced walking exercise. Thereafter, psychosocial correlates of exercise including exercise self-efficacy (ESE), social support (SoS), perceived exercise barrier (PEB) and socio-economic status (SES) were assessed using validated questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data. Alpha level was set at p < 0.05 of significance. Results: A majority of the participants demonstrated high ESE (75.0%), moderate SoS (60.9%) and low PEB (71.7%). More than half (58.4%) of the participants were in the middle SES. Male and female participants were comparable in ESE scores (p = 0.554), SoS (p = 0.362) and six-minute walk distance (6-MWD) (p = 0.194) except in body mass index (p < 0.05). The mean 6-MWD and VO₂ max were 350.6 ± 54.7 m and 9.74 ± 1.5 ml/kg/min respectively. There were significant correlations between functional capacity and each of ESE (r = 0.184; p = 0.026) and SoS (r = 0.374; p = 0.021). Conclusions: Psychosocial correlates of exercise including self-efficacy and social support were significantly associated with functional capacity among Nigerian patients with mild to moderate hypertension.

Functional Capacity, Psychosocial Correlate, Exercise, Hypertension

O. Awotidebe, T. , Adeyeye, V. , Ativie, R. , Adedoyin, R. , O. Borode, A. , O. Balogun, M. and A. Akindele, M. (2016) Functional Capacity and Psychosocial Correlates of Exercise in Nigerian Patients with Hypertension. International Journal of Clinical Medicine, 7, 464-473. doi: 10.4236/ijcm.2016.77051.