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Manipulating Exercise Intensity and Affective Responses for Cardiac Rehabilitation Program Acute Coronary Syndrome Patients
Sponsor: Instituto Politécnico de Leiria
Summary
The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if pleasure-oriented exercise intensity manipulation increases physical activity (PA) behavior in patients who have suffered acute coronary syndrome during a cardiac rehabilitation program. The main question it aims to answer is: • the manipulation of exercise intensity performed to produce more pleasure and arousal will impact the PA behavior? Researchers will compare the PA levels and affective responses to see if the manipulation of exercise intensity guided to pleasure and arousal works to increase PA behavior compared to the control group who will follow a conventional exercise program. Participants will do: * sixteen individualized hospital exercise sessions (two per week) and complementary physical activity program integrated into their daily life * be evaluated before and at the end of the exercise sessions and after 3 months
Official title: Manipulating Exercise Intensity and Affective Responses on a Cardiac Rehabiliattion Program for Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
18 Years - Any
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
52
Start Date
2026-03-01
Completion Date
2028-03-31
Last Updated
2026-03-27
Healthy Volunteers
No
Interventions
Control
The intervention will be implemented in the 8 weeks phase 2 cardiac rehabilitation program. Both groups will receive a pre-exercise evaluation and 16 individualized training sessions (two per week) based on FITT-VP principles and according to the European Association of Preventive Cardiology (EAPC) guidelines. A complementary physical activity program integrated into their daily life will be prescribed. It will receive regular briefing sessions regarding the health-related benefits of exercise. After these sessions, it will be recommended to maintain physical activity aiming to reach at least 150 min/week of moderate intensity PA.
Experimental
As for the experimental group, in the 16 individualized training sessions (two per week), attention will be given to exercise intensity assessment and manipulation, with the goal of optimizing the affective experience of exercise, while also respecting minimum and maximum intensity thresholds as proposed by the EAPC (self-selected intensity within individually defined limits). The pre-exercise evaluation, the number of sessions, and methodological approach will be the same to the control group. In this group it will be presented some awareness of the potential of choosing fun and pleasant activities.
Locations (1)
Unidade Local de Saúde da Região de Leiria
Leiria, Portugal