Engagement In Preventive Behaviors Research Articles

Osteoporosis knowledge, self-efficacy, and health beliefs among Chinese individuals with HIV.

Individuals with HIV are at increased risk for osteoporosis and fracture. Using the Health Beliefs Model, we identified key relationships between knowledge, self-efficacy and health beliefs pertaining to physical activity and dietary calcium intake, two key modifiable preventive measures for osteoporosis. Individuals with HIV are at increased risk for osteoporosis and fracture. Few studies have systematically explored concerns related to osteoporosis prevention among this group. Applying the Health Beliefs Model (HBM), we examined associations between osteoporosis-related preventive health behaviors (i.e., physical exercise and dietary intake) and knowledge, self-efficacy and health beliefs in a large cohort of Chinese individuals with HIV. We conducted a cross-sectional study with participants from an ongoing multi-center trial. Volunteers completed a questionnaire consisting of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), a calcium and vitamin D intake assessment, the Osteoporosis Knowledge Test, Osteoporosis Self-Efficacy Scale, Osteoporosis Health Beliefs Scale, and relevant sociodemographic and clinical risk factors. A total of 263 of 297 eligible participants enrolled in this study. Mean age of participants was 38.4 ± 9.8 years, average BMI was 21.6 ± 2.6 kg/m(2), and 76 % were men. About 30 % of the sample reported low physical activity. Consumption of foods from each calcium and vitamin D-rich category averaged between multiple times per month to weekly. Knowledge regarding osteoporosis was universally low and self-efficacy correlated directly with engagement in preventive behaviors. Women and individuals with lower education perceived greater barriers to adopting preventive behaviors. Multivariate logistic regression adjusted for age, sex and BMI showed that calcium and vitamin D intake was directly correlated with knowledge and self-efficacy, whereas physical activity correlated with manual labor occupation, perceived barriers to exercise and health motivation. Behavioral frameworks such as the HBM may provide important insight into promoting adoption and maintenance of osteoporosis-related preventive behaviors among individuals with HIV.

“Instrumental coping” and “Affective defense”: An additional perspective in health promoting behavior

Abstract A study intended to reveal factors that may further or impede engagement in preventive behavior when both engagement and non-engagement in the prescribed behavior will have the probability of imposing a high cost, was carried out among women who participated in a Tay-Sachs screening program. Data revealed that pregnant women, for whom both participation as well as nonparticipation may incur a higher cost than for others, tended more than others to participate, but they also tended more than others to employ defense mechanisms. Based on these results it has been suggested that in such situations an individual's engagement in preventive behavior will be a result of “Instrumental coping” as well as of “Affective defense”. The study may be considered as a further step in the understanding of the inclination to engage in preventive behavior in situations which are fairly typical to screening programs, where both participation and non-participation may involve the probability of a relatively high cost. The practical contribution of this study may be in its stressing the differential appeals to be employed in a campaign aimed at encouraging participation of various population groups in screening programs, by the level of the possible stresspotential involved in engaging in the prescribed behavior.

Involvement with a disease and health-promoting behavior

A theoretical framework regarding the association between attitude toward a disease and preventive behavior has been proposed. Analysis of previous studies and application of the concept of the image of a disease led to the development of a typology of “involvement with a disease” indicating the extent of one's feelings regarding susceptibility to, salience, understanding and preventability of a disease. Since the typology indicates the extent of one's feeling of being threatened by a disease and also the extent of understanding and subsequent perception of the feasibility of coping with the situation it has been hypothesized that engagement in preventive behavior will be associated with the level of involvement. A study carried out among a representative sample of Jewish Israeli Urban housewives lent support to the hypothesis, showing that preventive behavior may be predicted from attitudes toward a disease to the extent to which (a) attitudes are ordered along a line designating a motivational process and (b) behavior is considered relevant to that specific disease. Since only about 60% of the population fit the types of the proposed typology, further study is required to improve measures. Nevertheless, the present study may be considered as a further step in the undestanding of the association between attitude and behavior.