Dorien Brouwer

47 Patient perspectives on health-related behavior change PART 1 Low response efficacy was remarked as a barrier for changing physical activity behavior in six patients. Four patients did not believe that quitting smoking would help. “And do more sports, but sport does not affect that at all, in my eyes! If you hear all those stories from those doctors ... Anybody just can get it.” (011, V70) “Yeah, what I had, has nothing to do with smoking (partner: but with vessels and other things) well my vessels are OK, the doctor said. But now, I’m appeasing myself, but okay“ (15, M73) Fear Nine patients regarded fear of recurrence a facilitating factor for behavior change in general. One patient mentioned that by seeing other (worse) stroke patients, she developed the motivation to change her health-related behavior. “Maybe that was ‘the light’, because I’ve also seen people there hey, they didn’t look very good .. if you come out like that, with a crookedmouth .. .. people will really notice. That people who were lying next to me couldn’t speak well and then, well let’s say I’m lucky. But you’ll think about it and then you’ll go change something, a different lifestyle.” (17, M66) When asking which factors played a role in quitting smoking and reducing alcohol use, one patient found fear an important factor. “Yes…which factors… fear (partner: fear of recurrence, you start thinking about it… because it went well this time but…) “ (9, M59) Also, one patient found the ischemic stroke was a wake-up call and knew that it could happen again. Another patient tried to eat healthier because of fear of recurrence. Fear has also been mentioned as a facilitating factor by a participant who stopped smoking in the past because of fear of lung diseases. “But that fear is the driving force to maintain healthy things.” (008, M66)