{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,15]],"date-time":"2026-07-15T16:17:20Z","timestamp":1784132240229,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,14]],"date-time":"2021-06-14T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1623628800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background: The importance of promoting exercise adherence among individuals with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is imperative. However, challenges in maintaining behavior among ACS patients are also well-documented. Emerging findings in the general population have supported the use of habit-formation techniques, which include incorporating routine consistency and cues, to be effective for facilitating exercise behavior. The effectiveness of habit formation approaches, however, has not been tested on participants with ACS. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of facilitating physical activity habits among patients with ACS in a two-arm, parallel design, randomized controlled pilot trial. Methods: Participants (n = 13) were older adult patients (M age = 64.20, SD = 5.35) with ACS who were referred to a cardiac rehabilitation center. The experimental group attended monthly group meetings from months 1\u20133 and received phone call follow-ups from months 4\u20136. Conclusions: The experimental group showed an increase in weekly moderate-to-vigorous level physical activity, M = 228.20 mins (SD = 112.45), compared with the control group, M = 151.17 (SD = 112.22), d = 0.61. The experimental condition also showed greater use of routine consistency (experimental: M = 4.60 (SD = 0.548); control: M = 3.76 (SD = 1.62)) and cue usage (experimental: M = 3.60 (SD = 0.471); control: M= 2.60 (SD = 0.398)) over the control condition at the six-month mark. The study supports the effectiveness of habit-building techniques among patients with ACS, with effect sizes ranging from a medium to large magnitude. Findings from this pilot study support a full clinical trial with larger sample size.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph18126440","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,14]],"date-time":"2021-06-14T10:30:25Z","timestamp":1623666625000},"page":"6440","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Facilitating Exercise Habit Formation among Cardiac Rehabilitation Patients: A Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Navin","family":"Kaushal","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Sciences, School of Health & Human Sciences, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN 47405, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2433-6591","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marie","family":"Payer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine, Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al, Montr\u00e9al, QC H3T 1J4, Canada"},{"name":"EPIC Centre of Montr\u00e9al Heart Institute, Montr\u00e9al, QC H1T 1C8, Canada"},{"name":"Centre de Recherche de l\u2019Institut Universitaire de G\u00e9riatrie de Montr\u00e9al, Montr\u00e9al, QC H3W 1W5, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"B\u00e9atrice","family":"B\u00e9rub\u00e9","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"EPIC Centre of Montr\u00e9al Heart Institute, Montr\u00e9al, QC H1T 1C8, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Martin","family":"Juneau","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine, Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al, Montr\u00e9al, QC H3T 1J4, Canada"},{"name":"EPIC Centre of Montr\u00e9al Heart Institute, Montr\u00e9al, QC H1T 1C8, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Louis","family":"Bherer","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medicine, Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al, Montr\u00e9al, QC H3T 1J4, Canada"},{"name":"EPIC Centre of Montr\u00e9al Heart Institute, Montr\u00e9al, QC H1T 1C8, Canada"},{"name":"Centre de Recherche de l\u2019Institut Universitaire de G\u00e9riatrie de Montr\u00e9al, Montr\u00e9al, QC H3W 1W5, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,6,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2022","DOI":"10.1001\/jama.2008.553","article-title":"Sudden death after myocardial infarction","volume":"300","author":"Adabag","year":"2008","journal-title":"JAMA"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1894","DOI":"10.1177\/2047487316664190","article-title":"Patterns, predictors and effects of texting intervention on physical activity in CHD\u2014insights from the TEXT ME randomized clinical trial","volume":"23","author":"Thakkar","year":"2016","journal-title":"Eur. 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