Health-promoting Self-care Behaviors Research Articles

Basic Conditioning Factors' Influences on Adolescents' Healthy Behaviors, Self-Efficacy, and Self-Care

This article reports a secondary statistical analysis of data from a study investigating the relationships among health-promoting self-care behaviors, self-care self-efficacy, and self-care agency in an adolescent population (). The purpose of this study was to identify the influences of selected basic conditioning factors on the practice of healthy behaviors, self-efficacy beliefs, and ability for self-care in 256 adolescents. The research instruments used to collect data for this study include: Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II Scale; Self-Rated Abilities for Health Practices Scale; Exercise of Self-Care Agency Scale; demographic questionnaire assessing basic conditioning factors. The results of this analysis identified significant relationships between the following basic conditioning factors and adolescents' practice of healthy behaviors, self-efficacy of those behaviors, and self-care abilities: support system, adequate income, adequate living conditions, gender, routine practice of religion, and reported medical problems/disabilities. These findings can give adolescent health nurses direction in developing interventions that promote the self-care and health in this specific population.

Healthy Behaviors, Self-Efficacy, Self-Care, and Basic Conditioning Factors in Older Adults

A secondary statistical analysis of data from a study investigating the relations among health-promoting self-care behaviors, self-care self-efficacy, and self-care agency in an older adult population is reported (Callaghan, in press). Influences of selected basic conditioning factors on the practice of healthy behaviors, self-efficacy beliefs, and ability for self-care in 235 older adults is presented. The research instruments used to collect data for this study include the following: Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II scale, Self-Rated Abilities for Health Practices scale, Exercise of Self-Care Agency scale, and a demographic questionnaire assessing basic conditioning factors. Statistically significant relations were found between the following basic conditioning factors and the study variables: education, income, health insurance, race, support system, routine practice of religion, medical problems, marital status, gender, age, and number of children. Community health nurses can use these results in directing interventions that promote the self-care and health of older adults.

Health-promoting self-care behaviors, self-care self-efficacy, and self-care agency.

The relationships among health-promoting self-care behaviors, self-care self-efficacy, and self-care agency were investigated. The purpose of the study reported here was to explore conceptual integration that could be useful in determining interventions that enhance self-care agency. The sample consisted of 379 adult subjects. The instrumentation scales included: Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II, Self-Rated Abilities for Health Practices, and Exercise of Self-Care Agency. A canonical correlation identified a significant variate with a correlation of .76 (p < .001) accounting for 58% of the variance explained. The loading variables included: spiritual growth, self-concept, initiative, and responsibility. Therefore, spiritual growth was more strongly related to self-care agency than self-efficacy.

Health-promoting self-care in family caregivers.

Caregiving for family members with cognitive impairment is stressful and time consuming. Because of the attention needed to manage the memory and behavior problems of the care receiver, family caregivers have little time to attend to their own health needs. Most research related to the health of family caregivers has been conducted within a stress-illness framework. Fewer researchers have studied caregiver health from a health-promotion paradigm. The purpose of this study was to compare health-promoting self-care behavior infamily caregivers with demographically matched noncaregivers and to investigate the mediational effect of health-promoting self-care behavior on the relationship between stress and well-being. Findings revealed that family caregivers scored significantly lower on all measures of health promotion, with the exception of Nutrition and Number of Medications, and significantly higher on Barriers to Health-Promoting Actions. Health-promoting self-care behavior acted as a mediator to reduce the effect of caregiver stress on general well-being.

Basic need status and health-promoting self-care behavior in adults.

Health-promoting self-care behavior emphasizing positive lifestyle practices may improve the health and quality of life of adults. One variable that may influence health-related decisions is the status of basic needs as described by Maslow. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships among basic need satisfaction, health-promoting self-care behavior, and selected demographic variables in a sample of community-dwelling adults. A convenience sample of 84 community-dwelling adults was recruited to complete the Basic Need Satisfaction Inventory, the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II, and demographic information. Results of the study indicated that self-actualization, physical, and love/belonging need satisfaction accounted for 64% of the variance in health-promoting self-care behavior. The findings of this study are consistent with Maslow's theory of human motivation and suggest that persons who are more fulfilled and content with themselves and their lives, have physical need satisfaction, and have positive connections with others may be able to make better decisions regarding positive health-promoting self-care behaviors.