Analysis of the structure of the information field of perception of risk factors for non-communicable diseases

Abstract

When studying the attitude of the population to saving their own health, the question of the connection between abstract knowledge about the harm caused to health by risk factors and a real understanding of the harm caused by these factors to their own health remains poorly understood.The purpose of this work is to analyze the structure of the information field of the population’s attitude to the impact of FR on health.Materials and methods. The material for the analysis was the results of a sociological survey in three pilot regions of the Russian Federation – Tula Region, Stavropol Territory and the Republic of Crimea. The questionnaire consisted of 33 questions concerning risk factors and their impact on the human body and a block of questions concerning sources of medical information and trust in them. The sample size was 1,718 respondents. The following methods were used: descriptive statistics and the sociological method of questioning. Statistical data processing and reweighing were carried out in the statistical data processing package SPSS22.0. In general, the sampling error in the study does not exceed 1.99% for a confidence level of p<0.1.Results. The study showed that abstract knowledge about the harm of a particular FR in almost all FR is quite high, since it is precisely on them that the efforts of the medical community have been directed in recent decades. Moreover, the highest values are expected to have such factors as tobacco use, alcohol consumption, elevated blood sugar (glucose) and high blood pressure. The level of knowledge of the harm of FR, to which the medical community paid less attention, was expected to be lower. The lowest value is such a FR as a low iodine content in salt, which is consumed in food. An assessment of the relationship of variables such as abstract knowledge of harm about FR and understanding of their harm to one’s body using a two-way T-criterion showed that these variables are completely independent of each other at the significance level p<0.001. This result made us look more closely at the factor structure of the studied field of reality and put forward the assumption of independence of knowledge about the harm caused to the human body by FR and behavioral patterns in relation to FR. As a result of factor analysis of 73 variables, 9 factors were identified: the first and most powerful factor (10.33%) – knowledge of the effect of FR on one’s own health; the second most powerful factor (8.71%) – knowledge of the harm of FR; the third highlighted factor (5.46%) – trust in information sources, which included both trust in the media and trust in TV presenters, popular personalities and trust in the leaders of the region and the city; the fourth highlighted factor (4.67%) is the gender characteristics of the control of the FR by the population; the fifth highlighted factor (4.59%) is the sources of information about the FR; the sixth highlighted factor (4.30%) – age–related features of FR control; the seventh highlighted factor (3.32%) – the use of gadgets to control FR and exercise; the eighth highlighted factor (3.00%) – trust in health workers as a source of information; the ninth highlighted factor (2.59%) – smoking and alcohol consumption.Conclusion. The assessment of the effect of FR on the respondents’ own health in the framework of the conducted study turned out to be significantly lower than abstract knowledge about the harmful effects of these FR. The analysis of the factor structure of the studied field confirmed the validity of such a division of knowledge based on ideas about its various forms – «knowledge in itself» and «knowledge for oneself». The analysis made it possible to formulate a number of conditions for improving the effectiveness of preventive work with the population, including to increase the impact of population prevention: it is necessary to more actively involve the most important sources for the population – medical workers, scientific medical workers and health managers; more fully take into account the gender and age characteristics of audiences in preventive measures; the use of mass media should be preceded by an analysis of the level of trust in them from the target audience; the information messages themselves must first be checked for memorability. Preventive measures should change the personal meanings of specific people in relation to FR and HLS, and not be limited to stating general knowledge about them. The study also allows us to determine the directions for further research of the population’s attitude to the FR and their own health as an interdisciplinary task with the necessary involvement of specialists in medical and general psychology, personality psychology and motivation psychology, as well as sociologists.