Background

Aerobic exercise is essential for the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease and is a critical component of cardiac rehabilitation (CR). However, anxiety and avoidance of aerobic exercise is common in those with cardiac risk and disease as a result of heightened sensitivity to exercise sensations due to deconditioning or similarity in the physical sensations of exercise to health issues (e.g., shortness of breath, chest tightness, dizziness, fatigue, pain).

Purpose

To develop and evaluate the initial psychometric properties of an instrument that measures exercise sensitivity (i.e., fear of aerobic exercise sensations), for use in individuals with elevated cardiovascular risk or with qualifying conditions for CR.

Method

A large item pool was generated from existing measures of interoceptive sensitivity and evaluated for relevance to aerobic exercise by an initial sample of patients attending outpatient CR. Potential scale items, along with a set of validating questionnaires, were then administered through an online survey to adults (N = 252) with either a self-reported history of qualifying CR conditions or at least two cardiovascular risk factors. An exploratory factor analysis was used for item reduction and final item selection. Reliability and validity of the final scale items were examined in the online sample in addition to a clinical sample of patients attending CR (N = 50).

Results

The exploratory factor analysis resulted in an 18-item scale, the Exercise Sensitivity Questionnaire (ESQ), which produced two factors characterized by anxiety about cardiopulmonary sensations and pain/weakness sensations during exercise. The ESQ and factor scores evidenced internal consistency, convergent and discriminant validity, in addition to predictive validity in relation to exercise participation.

Conclusions

The findings suggest that the ESQ is a reliable, valid measure of exercise sensitivity that may be useful for clinical use and research in CR or for those with cardiovascular risk.

中文翻译：

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运动敏感性问卷的开发和初步验证

背景

有氧运动对于心血管疾病的一级和二级预防至关重要，并且是心脏康复（CR）的重要组成部分。但是，由于运动对身体健康的不适感或相似性（例如，呼吸急促，胸闷，身体不适，身体不适等）导致对运动感觉的敏感性增强，患有心脏病和心脏病的人普遍感到焦虑和避免有氧运动。头晕，疲劳，疼痛）。

目的

开发和评估一种测量运动敏感性（即对有氧运动感觉的恐惧）的仪器的初始心理测量特性，以用于心血管风险升高或CR合格条件的患者。

方法

现有项目的感知敏感性测量产生了大量项目，并通过门诊CR的患者初始样本评估了与有氧运动的相关性。然后通过在线调查对具有自我报告的合格CR病史或至少两个心血管危险因素的成年人（N = 252）进行潜在量表项目以及一组验证问卷的管理。探索性因素分析用于减少物品和选择最终物品。除了参加CR的患者的临床样本（N = 50）外，还在在线样本中检查了最终量表项目的信度和效度。

结果

探索性因素分析得出了一项18项量表，即“运动敏感性问卷”（ESQ），该问卷产生了两个以运动期间心肺感觉焦虑和疼痛/虚弱感为特征的因子。ESQ和因子得分证明了内部一致性，收敛性和判别效度，此外还有与运动参与有关的预测效度。

结论

研究结果表明，ESQ是一种可靠，有效的运动敏感性指标，可能对CR的临床使用和研究或心血管疾病患者有用。