Health-related Behaviours of Post-secondary Students in the Context of Health Perception

Abstract

Studying the health behaviours of adolescents essential for the promotion of healthy lifestyles for adolescence and beyond. The aim of this study was to determine differences in health behaviours in two groups of postsecondary students: One group which presented the holistic approach to good health, and the other that presented a biomedical approach to health. To achieve this aim, the following research questions were utilised: a) How do post-secondary students understand good health; b) What kind of connotations does the term good health have for them? c) What are participants’ current health behaviours? d) Does gender have an influence on responses? The research was conducted with two hundred twenty nine post-secondary students from one of Original Research Article Nowak and McNamara; BJESBS, 7(1): 1-8, 2015; Article no.BJESBS.2015.066 2 the largest high schools in Opole. Two standardized questionnaires were used: Questions from the survey Pro-health lifestyle Determinants in my Family and an adaptation of the Health Behaviour Inventory (Z. Juczynski's). The majority of male respondents (55,6%) identified with the holistic health model, whereas the majority of female respondents (57,9%) identified with the biomedical model. Interestingly, 44.1 % of respondents presented a low value of the general health behaviour indicator; (42.3% was the average) and only 13.54% of the respondents presented a high value of the indicator. This implies that the respondents' associations suggested that the holistic, socio-ecological approach to health did not involve a higher pro-health behaviour level in this case. Because of the low level of health behaviours and the trend towards biomedical approaches in participants’ perceptions of good health, it would be worthwhile to examine exposure to and quality of health education in schools. The promotion of holistic approaches to health is also warranted.