Studies on determinants for health behavior and the relationships between behavior, beliefs,and knowledge
Abstract: Näslund, Görel K. Health behavior - studies on determinants for healthbehavior and the relationships between health behavior, beliefs, andknowledge. Karolinska Institute, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, KarolinskaHospital, Stockholm, Sweden.The general aim was to study determinants for health behavior. The groups surveyedwere 1) male and female university students, 2) male and female blue-collar workers, and3) middle-aged men with slightly to moderately elevated coronary heart disease riskfactors invited to participate in a 6-month diet and physical exercise program. Theresearch also surveyed the relationships between health behavior, beliefs and knowledge,and the role of demographic, socioeconomic, and personality factors for health behaviorand compliance with medical care recommendations. Both among university students and blue-collar workers, women werecharacterized by having more positive health practices, better health knowledge, andstronger beliefs about the importance of positive health practices than men. A relationshipwas found between behavior and beliefs concerning the importance of positive healthpractices, and between knowledge and beliefs, while the link between health knowledgeand behavior was weak. Middle-aged men who enrolled, and who declined to enrol, in a 6-month diet andphysical exercise program were characterized by different health beliefs and knowledge.Among the participants in the diet and exercise intervention program, reduced compliancewith increased intake of dietary fiber was linked to smoking, higher levels of hostility,perception of barriers to dietary change, and poor knowledge of CHD risk factors.Reduced compliance with low fat diet was linked to smoking, younger age, and nothaving relatives or friends afflicted with CHD. Reduced compliance with the physicalexercise program tended to be associated with younger age and having children living athome. Both smokers and non-smokers managed to reduce their estimated CHD risk inthe intervention program, but after intervention the smokers still had an elevated coronaryrisk profile compared to non-smokers. Despite similar knowledge about the healthhazards of smoking, smokers gave a lower rating than non-smokers for the importance ofnot smoking. It was concluded that although health behaviors may be determined by anumber of different factors, behaviors are generally linked to beliefs about the importanceof positive health practices.Key words: health behavior, health beliefs, health knowledge, complianceISBN 91-628-1849-X
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