University of Twente Student Theses

The impact of positive psychology interventions that improve gratitude, self-compassion or positive affect on the level of physical activity amongst post-Acute Coronary Syndrome patients : a systematic review

Hamer, V. (2022) The impact of positive psychology interventions that improve gratitude, self-compassion or positive affect on the level of physical activity amongst post-Acute Coronary Syndrome patients : a systematic review.

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Abstract:	Background: Although the importance to engage in health behaviour, like increasing physical activity, is high, most post-Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) patients fail to commit to this beneficial behaviour. Previous research shows promising effects of including positive psychology interventions (PPI’s) in order to increase their level physical activity. This systematic review aimed to further explore the effectivity and working mechanism of PPI’s that improve gratitude, self-compassion or positive affect which might, in turn, increase the level of physical activity amongst post-ACS patients. Methods: A systematic literature search using the databases Scopus and PubMed was conducted, by following PRISMA guidelines. Inclusion criteria were 1) the intervention needs to be a PPI focussing on increasing at least one of the mentioned psychological factors (selfcompassion, gratitude or positive affect), (2) physical activity needs to be the outcome measure (physical activity in this research is moderate-to-vigorous intense cardiovascular activity (like walking, running or cycling) (3) The research is done amongst post ACSpatients. Five studies met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and were used in this systematic review. All studies were executed in America, written in English and published between 2000-2022. Sample sizes varied from n=47 to n=167. Most patients were aged 45-65 years. Results: Amongst these five studies, no interventions were found that focus on improving gratitude or self-compassion. All five studies examined the Positive Emotions after Acute Coronary Events (PEACE) intervention, which seems to succeed in improving positive affect and physical activity. In this systematic review, the PEACE is used in different variations. Results of this systematic review show that when PEACE is combined with motivational interviewing, is offered in weekly sessions and provides booster sessions, the level of physical activity is even more increased. An additional, interesting finding in this research was that concerning older versus midlife age, the intervention seems to be most beneficial in midlife age groups (45-64 years). Conclusion: However, only one study included a control group and two studies used data from existing research for their analysis, so conclusions about the results of this systematic review need to be carefully weighed. Also, a clear investigation about the explicit working mechanism of how the improved positive affect leads to increased physical activity, needs to be executed. A factorial design to identify which positive psychology exercise leads to the highest increase in physical activity could be beneficial, or to focus the positive psychology exercises directly on physical activity. Including control groups is highly recommended.
Item Type:	Essay (Master)
Faculty:	BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Programme:	Psychology MSc (66604)
Link to this item:	https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/89828
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