Part-two in the six-part motivation series is based on findings to come out of an English study looking at patient psychology. Read on to find out what helped – and didn't help – patients' attitudes towards their rehabilitation.

The old adage attitude is everything might sound cliché, but sometimes clichés are such for a reason. Not just because they're as familiar as the back of our hands, but because they ring true.

A study undertaken at the University of London, by Niall Maclean, Pandora Pound, Charles Wolfe and Anthony Rudd shows that people rehabilitate better and faster when they are motivated, have a positive outlook and want to get better. As a result of their positive output, motivated patients seem to achieve better rehabilitation results.

The researchers observed 22 stroke patients, eight of whom were found to have low motivation and 14 of whom had high motivation. Patients who were more highly motivated were not only more likely to consider rehabilitation an important part of their recovery, but were also more likely to take an active role in working towards improving their level of ability. These patients, the study found, were also more likely to understand the specialist role of the nurses.

Although rehabilitation professionals rarely agree on one definition of 'motivation', they do agree that those patients who are highly motivated are more likely to steer their recovery towards more positive outcomes.

So how can patients' motivation be encouraged?

The study found that “Information from professionals about rehabilitation, favourable comparisons with other patients, and the desire to leave hospital had a positive effect on motivation.”

“Conversely,” the study continued, “overprotection from family members and professionals, lack of information or the receipt of 'mixed messages' from professionals, and unfavourable comparisons with other patients had a negative effect.”

In the English study most patients were in fact found to be motivated, and believed they had an active role to play in rehabilitation and that they had to put in effort to reap rewards. Only low motivation patients thought they ought simply to wait for recovery. These patients also reported not understanding the nature of rehabilitation exercises.

This highlights the need for patient information and support during rehabilitation. It seems that the better a patient is informed about their rehabilitation – what purpose it serves, what it's leading towards, the potential effects of not undertaking rehabilitation – the better equipped and more supported they feel about facing their rehabilitation journey in a positive, motivated way. If attitude is everything, it is essential that we help patients to feel as motivated and positive as possible so that they can get the best results as possible in their rehabilitation.

Motivation part two: summary

• a better attitude gets better results
• high motivation is linked to a belief in rehabilitation's importance in recovery
• favourable patient comparisons and desire to leave hospital have positive effects on motivation
• overprotection, lack of information and 'mixed messages' have negative effects
• highly motivated patients believe they have an active role to play in rehabilitation
• low motivation patients felt passive, that recovery would 'happen to them'
• great need for information and support for patients in rehabilitation