Health Practices Of Adults Research Articles

Health Practices of Adults with Elder Care Responsibilities

Background.This study examined health-risk behaviors and preventive health care activities among caregivers for older adults.Methods.Survey questionnaires regarding health practices were completed by 272 caregivers and 917 noncaregivers selected through a stratified random sample of persons age 50 or older who were members of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan in Northern California.Results.Controlling for age, gender, race, education, marital status, and income level, caregivers were more likely than noncaregivers to eat breakfast daily, get flu shots, and receive pneumonia vaccines. Caregivers and noncaregivers did not differ significantly with regard to any of 10 other health practices or to the total number of positive health behaviors. Poorer health practices were associated with nonwhite racial identification, low income level, part-time employment, and health limitations.Conclusions.These findings suggest that, at least for caregivers who have access to the extensive health promotion resources of a large health maintenance organization, caregiving responsibilities may not always have the deleterious impact on health and health practices that had previously been assumed.

Influence of Psychosocial Development and Life Events on the Health Practices of Adults

The purpose of this study was to examine variables believed to contribute to healthy life-styles of adults. Psychosocial development and the presence of stressors (i.e., life changes) were selected for the potential contribution they make to the practice of health behaviors of adults. Psychosocial theory of development and theory of human adaptation provided the conceptual framework that guided the investigation. Using a survey design, three self-report instruments were mailed to 216 potential subjects. The study participants (N = 156) were employees (current or retired) of a large midwestern university ranging in age from 24 to 80. The results revealed that the means for each stage of psychosocial development were at the upper end of the scale. Positive resolution of intimacy, the stage of early adulthood, was more strongly correlated with the health practices than the remaining seven stages, and four of the stages were significantly associated with the practice of healthy behaviors. Exposure to stressors as measured by life changes increased the predictive values of two of the subscales of the total health behaviors score, nutrition and safety. Stressors and their impact did not, in general, lend strength to the predictive value of healthy life-styles.