The purpose of this study was to investigate how fatigue changes following moderate-intensity aerobic exercise. Then we examined the relationships between change of fatigue and the change of self-efficacy for acute exercise. Sixteen undergraduate or graduate students were recruited as the subjects in this study. Two measures were obtained during the exercise condition: 1) The Japanese version of the Iceberg Profile was used to measure fatigue, 2) Self-efficacy for continuing moderate-intensity acute exercise was assessed. Subjects performed 20 minutes of cycling at moderate intensity on a cycle ergometer. In addition, subjects engaged in reading a book, which served as the control condition. To investigate the influence of exercise on fatigue, a repeated ANOVA was performed. However, the ANOVA did not show significant main effect for condition, main effect for time, and condition \ time interaction. The results of this analysis suggest that moderate-intensity exercise did not increase fatigue. The relationship between the change score of fatigue and change scores of self-efficacy was examined using a correlational analysis. The change score of fatigue was found to have no significant relationship with either change scores of self-efficacy. The results of this study suggest that fatigue and self-efficacy may independently arise with exercise.

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The purpose of this study was to develop and validate the Self-Efficacy Scale for Treatment Acceptance (SESTA), which measures the individual's strength of self-efficacy for receiving medical treatment. The SESTA was developed using the items which were collected from previous research and were judged to have content validity. Factor structure and reliability were examined using data from 256 university students for healthy control and 61 psychiatric outpatients. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that the 11-item SESTA consisted of a single factor. The alpha coefficients for the SESTA were .91 and .93 for the two samples respectively. The Self-esteem scale and the SDS were administered to the patient group. Significant correlations were obtained between SESTA score and Self-esteem score, and between SESTA score and SDS score, suggesting high validity and clinical utility for the SESTA. The SESTA developed in this study can be used as a screening tool in medical settings based on behavioral medicine approach. It might be especially useful when patients receive medical treatment for a long period and show difficulties to maintain their motivation to receive continuous treatment. The clinical usefulness of SESTA was discussed.

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Long-term effects of blood pressure (BP) reduction and habits improvement on new behavioral BP control program (KenkoutatsujinTM) users were examined. Educational contents of this 1 month program included booklet, self-assessment of habits, goal-setting for behavioral changes and self-monitoring of home BP and target behaviors. The program consisted of twice interactive letter-communications including personal advices on treatment needs and behavior modification. These advices were computer-tailored based on a participant's response on the questionnaire. The follow-up questionnaire survey was conducted for 224 participants 10 months later. One hundred twenty seven subjects (93 males: 63.2 years, 34 females: 60.1 years) out of 197 participants (response rate: 87.9%) were analyzed, excluding 56 participants whose antihypertensive medication were changed and 14 whose data were incomplete. The home BP was significantly decreased from baseline (142.5/86.0 mmHg) to post-intervention (136.0/82.1 mmHg) by -6.4/-3.9 mmHg, and maintained to follow-up (136.6/82.8 mmHg). The BP reduction was -8.7/-5.5 mmHg at post-intervention, and -8.8/-5.3 mmHg at follow up in hypertensive subjects whose home BP was equal to or higher than 135/80 mmHg (n=100). Fifteen lifestyles (8 eating habits, 4 exercise, etc) were improved at post-intervention, and the 9 improved habits were maintained for 10 months. These results suggest that the program is useful for lifestyle modification and BP control.

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This study examined the subjective well-being among elderly people (n=112) including chronic disease patients using the Subjective Well-being Inventory (SUBI). The subjects were divided into four groups, controls (n=31), orthopedic diseases(n=36), cerebrovascular diseases (n=22), chronic medical diseases (n=23); The results showed high scores on the SUBI, both positive and negative feelings, and no sex difference was found. Among the four groups, chronic medical diseases showed the lowest SUBI score. Orthopedic diseases and controls were characterized by low scores on “family relations”, and a similar tendency was seen in chronic medical diseases on “physical health”, and in cerebrovascular diseases on “social support”. These results suggest that psychological support should be provided along with support for the patients’ disease and their needs, based on subjective well-being.

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The present study examined physical and cognitive factors associated with falls. We surveyed elderly (N=90, mean age 83.1 years) disabled staying at home. During prospective monitoring for 1 year, falls were reported by 22 persons (24.4%). Their levels of attention were measured with Trail making test - Part A. Falls group (N=22) and Non-Falls group (N=78) were compared with those scores. The result showed that Falls group had lower scores of Trail making test, foot functions and standing action, respectivily. Logistic regression analysis also indicated that Falls group had less ankle range of motion and foot-gripping force than Non-falls group, also lower Trail making test - Part A scores. These results suggest that not only physical factors are related to falls, but also attention is an important factor for elderly disabled.

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