Participant demographics (N = 52).

BackgroundInsufficient exercise affects the health of patients who have implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD). The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlations between exercise self-efficacy (ESE) and its associated psychological factors in ICD recipients.MethodsThis cross-sectional study included individuals who had undergone ICD implantation at the cardiology department of a medical centre in Taiwan. A face-to-face survey was conducted. The survey questionnaire included questions regarding the participants’ demographics, perceived health (PH), ICD shock–related anxiety (ICD-SRA), self-care self-efficacy (SSE), perceived exercise benefit (PE-benefit), perceived exercise barrier (PE-barrier), and ESE. Data were analysed using SPSS 20.0 Software. Stepwise multiple regression analyses were also performed to evaluate the predictive effects of the aforementioned factors on ESE.ResultsA total of 52 ICD recipients were enrolled. ESE was negatively correlated with ICD-SRA (r = −0.511; p p p p ConclusionsESE may be improved by overcoming PE-barrier, ICD-SRA and enhancing PE-benefit. Consequently, improving ESE may enhance the health benefits of exercise.