The role of social support in the dietary behavior of coronary heart patients: an application of the health action process approach.

Dietary behaviour plays a crucial role in both the onset and the management of coronary artery disease (CAD). To develop effective interventions to modify dietary behaviours of patients, it is fundamental to identify and examine the predictive factors that are relevant to healthy dietary behaviour. The Health Action Process Approach provides a useful framework for understanding and predicting the process of health behaviour. The aim of the current study is to clarify the role and effect of received social support in the HAPA model. A longitudinal sample of 117 CAD patients filled out a questionnaire at three time points. Along with HAPA constructs, dietary behaviour was assessed with a food frequency questionnaire. To investigate the longitudinal associations of the constructs, structural equation modelling with latent variables was employed. In the final model, outcome expectancies and pre-action self-efficacy jointly predicted behavioural intention. In the post-intentional phase, social support served as a mediator between intention and action planning. Moreover, coping planning mediated the relationship between action planning and dietary behaviour. These results confirmed the mediator role of social support in the intention-behaviour relationship. This finding suggests that social support can be a crucial component to facilitate healthy dietary behaviour.

Psychometric Evaluation of the Hungarian Adaptation of the Diabetes Distress Scale in Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes.

Background and Purpose: Diabetes-specific distress (DD) is a crucial predictor of patients' self-care, necessitating reliable screening tools. The Diabetes Distress Scale captures typical sources of patients' distress effectively. Methods: The Hungarian Diabetes Distress Scale (HDDS) was employed in two studies with 450 type 2 diabetes patients. Study 1 explored DD's link to the specific quality of life, while study 2 examined its associations with depressive symptoms, anxiety, and illness perception. We evaluated HDDS's construct validity, internal consistency, and intercorrelations. Convergent validity and discriminant validity were analyzed in the second study. Results: Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses validated HDDS's structure. Subscales exhibited strong internal consistency and correlated as expected with quality of life, anxiety, depression, illness perception, and demographic/medical data. Conclusions: The Hungarian DDS demonstrates robust psychometric properties, affirming its reliability and validity.

Confirming the factor structure and improving the screening function of the Medical Fear Survey - short in a Hungarian community sample.

Medical Fear Survey (MFS) was designed to assess the fear of medical treatments and related factors through five dimensions including fears of injections and blood draws, sharp objects, blood, mutilation, medical examination and physical symptoms. We analysed the factor structure and validity of a short version of MFS in Hungarian, on a large sample (2631 participants; 558 men, 2067 women) focusing on possible age and gender differences (aged Mean = 30.4, SD = 13.4), which were not reported for the original version. Furthermore, using discriminant analysis, potential screening function of the MFS-short was examined. Results supported construct and convergent validity and scale-reliability for the five-factor structure of the MFS-short. Further analyses demonstrated excellent discriminatory power for four subscales, while one subscale had acceptable power. Our findings provide implications for the utility of MFS-short as a screening measure in assessing the severity of medical fears controlling for gender differences and age-biases.

Role of received social support in the physical activity of coronary heart patients: The Health Action Process Approach.

Physical activity (PA) plays a crucial role in the management of coronary artery disease (CAD). The Health Action Process Approach provides a useful framework for understanding and predicting the process of health behaviors. The aim of the current study was to unveil the role of received social support in the HAPA model, concerning the physical activity of CAD patients. A longitudinal sample of 117 CAD patients filled out a questionnaire during three measurement points (baseline, 2 months, and 6 months later). The constructs within the model were measured by the previously validated HAPA scales. PA was assessed with four items, which were also included in the HAPA questionnaire. To test the direct and indirect associations between the variables, structural equation modeling with latent variables was employed. Received social support was proven to have a significant and strong effect on both action planning and action control, suggesting a synergistic effect on the individual factors, as well as increasing the explained variance of PA. Results confirmed the important role of received social support in the PA of CAD patients. It could be presumed that strengthening the social support from family and friends could support the regular physical activity of CAD patients.

Development of the short version of the spielberger state-trait anxiety inventory.

The Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) has been widely used to measure the state and trait components of anxiety. We sought to develop a short, yet reliable and valid form of these scales for use in circumstances where the full-form is not feasible. We abbreviated the scales using item response theory analyses to retain the items that could discriminate the best among participants. One sample (N = 922) completed the state scale, a second sample (N = 2227) completed the trait scale, while a third sample (N = 250) completed the short forms. Our participants completed the Hungarian version of STAI alongside other measures to observe external validity. We calculated cut-off scores for the state (>9.5,) and trait (>13.5) scales. A total of 19.5% and 20.1% of the respondents reached the cut-off scores. The five-item short forms of STAI had sound psychometric properties that are comparable to those obtained on the full-form. The external validity of the scales is also demonstrated. We report detailed descriptive statistics that could be used in further studies as standards. The short scales are reliable measures that could be used in clinical screening and behavioural research; especially where practical considerations preclude the use of a longer questionnaire.