Abstract
The study investigated the influence of culturally-based health beliefs on engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviour. Specifically, the study compared levels of engagement between Western and Chinese youth in Australia and assessed the extent to which culture-specific attributions about the causes of illness, and health beliefs, predict engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviour. Ninety-four Western and 95 Chinese (N=189; Mean Age=20.8 years, SD=3 years) young adults completed an online questionnaire. Predictor variables were cultural health beliefs measured by the Chinese Cultural Views on Health and Illness scale (CCVH, Liang et al., 2008), and illness attributions beliefs measured by the Cause of Illness Questionnaire (CIQ, Armstrong and Swartzman, 1999). Outcomes variables were levels of engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviour. Results indicated that Chinese participants have a significantly lower exercising rate and healthy dietary habits compared to the Western sample. Moreover, Chinese participants were found to believe more strongly than Westerners that cancer was associated with factors measured by the Traditional-Chinese-Model (TCM). Finally, the observed relationship between cultural health beliefs and physical inactivity was mediated by attributions of illness, in particular to the supernatural subscale, with the Sobel Test showing a significant mediation (z=-2.63, p=0.004). Mainstream approaches to encourage healthy lifestyles are unlikely to be effective when educating Chinese youth. Instead, health promotion programs should attempt to address the illness attribution beliefs and educate Chinese youth about the role of diet and exercise in prevention of diseases such as cancer.
Highlights
Cancer is one of the leading causes of premature death worldwide, there is a growing consensus that some cancers are preventable through improved diet, physical activity, decreased sedentary behaviour, and participation in screening, where appropriate
Predictor variables were cultural health beliefs measured by the Chinese Cultural Views on Health and Illness scale (CCVH, Liang et al, 2008), and illness attributions beliefs measured by the Cause of Illness Questionnaire (CIQ, Armstrong and Swartzman, 1999)
Individuals who favoured TCM were likely to report lower satisfaction with the Western Health Care Services. These results suggest that Chinese immigrants, who are characterised by a commitment to TCM, will likely display a lack of acceptance of, and adherence to, Western medical recommendations, including the adoption of behaviours targeted by health promotion programs
Summary
Cancer is one of the leading causes of premature death worldwide, there is a growing consensus that some cancers are preventable through improved diet, physical activity, decreased sedentary behaviour, and participation in screening, where appropriate. In order to foster improved lifestyle choices, it is important that beliefs about, and attitudes to the role of behaviour in cancer and other chronic disease causation be addressed (Armstrong and Swartzman, 1999; Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, AIHW, 2002; Kwok and Sullivan, 2006b). The difficulty with this goal is that public health interventions and health promotion activities targeted at disease prevention tended to favor a single approach without specific consideration for cultural differences existing in the population.
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