Impact of potential disease
CVD, DISEASE
Perception of personal risk relating to current health conditions and awareness of the impact of potential disease varied among participants. For some, insight into the possible future impact of current health conditions on quality of life and independence was cited as a motivating factor for maintaining positive behavior change:
“…I'm much more aware of the problems that I could face…organs could be failing, liver, kidney, things like that…so I continuously try and look out for things that's going to be good for me, especially diet wise.” (P2, Male, Moderate CVD risk)Fear of losing physical functioning, independence, and becoming a burden on others was discussed by many participants as reasons for being proactive and maintaining health behavior change:
“…once you lose your health…then you are incapable of doing things and…become a burden for other people…for my family…for the government…I realise that it's me, that I can look after myself…I have to live a healthy life, I don't want to be bedridden” (P2, as above)Although the awareness of personal risk was a motivating factor for some, for others, a lack of insight into the potential impact of disease was apparent:
“…I feel that there's nothing really wrong with me, I'm strong and believing that I'm not sick, I think it's all these medications that are making me sick” (P6, Female, Moderate CVD risk)For this participant, poor insight into personal risk and the potential impact of disease was cited as a reason for poor medication adherence, and for others, it was cited as a reason for early withdrawal from the coaching.