Adherence in CABG Patients: An Empirical Test of a Health Behavior Model

To benefit from a Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery (CABG), patients must adhere to their therapeutic regimen. To test the extent of which the Information-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (IMB) model constructs explain the variability in adherence behaviors in CABG patients, and also to examine the relationship between the IMB model constructs, CABG patients (N = 152) were randomly assigned to either an intervention group, or a standard care control group. They completed pretest measures, and were reassessed later. Although perfect replication of the IMB model’s predicted pathways was not achieved in this study, support for several of these pathways was demonstrated. The estimated model for adherence-demonstrated good fit of the data. Motivation was a significant predictor of adherence behavior in CABG patients. These findings suggest that IMB model-based intervention that improves motivation can enhance adherence. Therefore, CABG patients’ education programs should mainly target motivation in order to affect adherence behavior.