PubMed Health⌕ Search

SEARCH · PubMed Health

Results for “Health Behavior”

Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1999

Gender differences in oral health behavior and general health habits in an adult population.

This study aimed to evaluate gender differences in oral health behavior and general health habits in adults. The subjects were 207 males and 196 females aged 20-64 yrs who were public officials in the city or town administrations in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. The questionnaire survey included three items: (1) self assessment of oral health status, (2) oral health behavior and (3) general health habits. Statistical analysis was performed using the chi-square test for differences of responses between males and females. The proportion of subjects with cognition of symptoms of oral disease ranged from 14.3 to 23.0%. The percentage of those who had not visited a dentist in the last year were 52.7% for males and 36.7% for females (p < 0.01). Subjects who brushed their teeth almost every day at bed time were 60.9% of males and 88.8% of females (p < 0.01). A comparison of the numbers of positive responses regarding general health habits found no differences in the distribution of general health habits score between males and females. Examining the relationship between oral health behavior and general health habits revealed that males with general habit high scores tended to have positive oral hygiene behavior. These results support the thesis that gender specificities in oral health depend on individual attitudes to oral health and dental utilization. In addition, understanding the cognitive factors of males and females would accelerate dental approaches to modifying oral health behavior of both groups, thus contributing to lifelong health maintenance.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Self-report evaluation of health behavior, stress vulnerability, and medical outcome of heart transplant recipients.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to explore the value of patient self-report assessment in heart transplant candidacy evaluation, utilizing the Millon Behavioral Health Inventory (MBHI). Patient's MBHI measures were related to important pretransplant patient characteristics and posttransplant measures of health behavior, medical morbidity, and mortality. METHOD: Ninety heart patients with end-stage cardiac disease completed the MBHI during pretransplant candidacy evaluations, and also were interviewed concerning their coping effectiveness, support resources, and compliance history. Postransplant follow-up of 61 living and 29 deceased patients included measures of survival time, postsurgical medical care, rejection and infection episodes, and nurse ratings of medication compliance and problematic interpersonal health behaviors. RESULTS: The MBHI coping scales were found to significantly discriminate good and poor pretransplant compliance, and interview judgments of good and poor coping and support resources, with modest accuracy. The MBHI also was superior to these interview judgments in predicting posttransplant survival time and medical care used. Certain scales were also positively associated with physical parameters of pretransplant and posttransplant status. CONCLUSIONS: Patient self-report with the MBHI can contribute to identification of patients at risk for a problematic outcome with transplant, by providing information pertinent to clinical decision making and outcome management analysis with this special population of cardiac patients.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Gender differences in old age mortality: roles of health behavior and baseline health status.

This research aims to further current understanding of gender differences in old age mortality. In particular, it assesses the relative importance of health behavior and baseline health conditions in predicting the risk of dying, and how their effects differ between elderly men and women. Data for this research came from a prospective study of a national sample of 2,200 older adults in Japan from 1987 to 1999. Hazard rate models were employed to ascertain the interaction effects involving gender and health behavior (i.e., smoking and drinking) and baseline health status. Gender differences in old age mortality in the Japanese are quite pronounced throughout all of our models. In addition, interaction effects of gender and smoking, functional limitation, and cognitive impairment, indicate that females in Japan suffer more from these risk factors than do their male counterparts. Failure to adjust for population heterogeneity may lead to a significant underestimation of female advantage in survival. The inclusion of health behavior and health status measures only offsets a limited proportion of this gender differential. The increased mortality risk due to smoking, functional limitation, and cognitive impairment among elderly Japanese women suggests that narrowing of gender gap in mortality may be due to not only changes in the levels of these risk factors but also their differential effects on men and women.

Aged↗
PubMed2005

Social status and risky health behaviors: results from the health and retirement study.

OBJECTIVES: We focus on a hypothesized mechanism that may underlie the well-documented link between social status and health-behavioral health risks. METHODS: We use longitudinal data from representative samples of 6,106 middle-aged and 3,636 older adults from the Health and Retirement Study to examine the relationships between social status-including early life social status (e.g., parental schooling), ascribed social status (e.g., sex, race-ethnicity), and achieved social status (e.g., schooling, economic resources)-and behavioral health risks (e.g., weight, smoking, drinking, physical activity) to (1) assess how early life and ascribed social statuses are linked to behavioral health risks, (2) investigate the role of achieved factors in behavioral health risks, (3) test whether achieved status explains the contributions of early life and ascribed status, and (4) examine whether the social status and health risk relationships differ at midlife and older age. RESULTS: We find that early life, achieved, and ascribed social statuses strongly predict behavioral health risks, although the effects are stronger in midlife than they are in older age. DISCUSSION: Ascribed social statuses (and interactions of sex and race-ethnicity), which are important predictors of behavioral health risks even net of early life and achieved social status, should be explored in future research.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

Introducing multidimensional item response modeling in health behavior and health education research.

When measuring participant-reported attitudes and outcomes in the behavioral sciences, there are many instances when the common measurement assumption of unidimensionality does not hold. In these cases, the application of a multidimensional measurement model is both technically appropriate and potentially advantageous in substance. In this paper, we illustrate the usefulness of a multidimensional approach to measurement using an empirical example taken from the Behavior Change Consortium. Data from the Treatment Self-Regulation Questionnaire have been analyzed to investigate whether self-regulation can be regarded as a single construct, or if it has multiple dimensions based on the type of regulation or motivation that participants say helps them consider an improvement in healthy behavior. Comparison with consecutive analyses shows the advantages of multidimensional measurement for interpreting participant-reported data.

Health Behavior↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Do poor health behaviors affect health-related quality of life and healthcare utilization among veterans? The Veterans Health Study.

The impact of health behaviors on Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and HealthCare Utilization (HCU) was examined in a sample of male veterans. We examined the relationship between health behaviors (cigarette smoking, alcohol use, exercise, seat belt use, cholesterol level, and body mass index [BMI]), and HRQoL and HCU, among Veterans Health Study participants providing complete baseline (t0) and 12-month follow-up (t12) data. (Respective sample sizes were 1242 and 1397.) HRQoL measures were derived from the SF-36, expressed as physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scores. Prospective 12-month outpatient and inpatient utilization data were obtained from a VA administrative database. Exercise and BMI were significant PCS predictors at t0 and t12, adjusting for age, social supports, education, employment status, and comorbidities. Smoker status was negatively associated with PCS only at t0. Nonproblem (no abuse) alcohol users had significantly higher t0 PCS scores than nonusers. Only current problem alcohol use was associated with lower MCS at t0 and t12 in multivariate analyses. Regarding HCU, current smokers had fewer medical visits than never smokers; alcohol nonusers had more medical visits than current alcohol users, current problem users, and former problem users. No behaviors were associated with mental health visits or inpatient stays. HRQoL is negatively affected by poor health behaviors. HRQoL and physical health may be improved by practitioners targeting these behaviors for preventive interventions. This study did not support an association between poor health behaviors and higher HCU. Future research should consider the effect of moderating variables on this relationship.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

The conceptual and empirical link between health behaviors, self reported health, and the use of home health care in later life.

The primary qualification for Medicare's home health care benefit is being homebound, typically by a chronic disability. Disability and functional ability in late-life are heavily influenced by the long-term practice of health behaviors. One of the goals of Healthy People 2000 is to increase the years of healthy life which are measured, in part, by self reported health status. This compression of morbidity would, in effect, reduce the need for long term care. This paper examines three conceptual models linking health behaviors to self reported health in a unique sample of older adults who have chosen to participate in a corporate sponsored wellness program. It is hoped that these findings will encourage further research on formulating empirical pathways from health behaviors to reduced need for home health care.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2006

What should non-US behavioral health systems learn from the USA?: US behavior health services trends in the 1980s and 1990s.

Several countries, such as the USA, inadvertently created a different behavioral health payment system from the rest of medicine through the introduction of diagnostic-related group exemptions for psychiatric care. This led to isolation in the administration and delivery of care for patients with mental health and substance abuse disorders from other medical services with significant, yet unintended, consequences. To insure an efficient and effective health-care system, it is necessary to recognize the problems introduced by segregating behavioral health from the rest of medical care. In this review, the authors assess trends in behavioral health services during the last two decades in the USA, a period in which independently managed behavioral health care has dominated administrative practices. During this time, behavioral health has been an easy target for aggressive cost cutting measures. There have been no clinically significant improvements in the number of adults receiving minimally adequate treatment or in the percentage of the population with behavior health problems receiving psychiatric care with the possible exception of depression. While decreased spending for behavioral health services has been well documented during this period, these savings are offset by costs shifted to greater medical service use with a net increase in the total cost of health care. Targeting behavioral health for reduction in health-care spending through independent management, starting with diagnostic procedure code or diagnostic-related group exemption may not be the wisest approach in addressing the increasing fiscal burden that medical care is placing on the national economy.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed2005

Health Behavior Theory and cumulative knowledge regarding health behaviors: are we moving in the right direction?

Although research on Health Behavior Theory (HBT) is being conducted at a rapid pace, the extent to which the field is truly moving forward in understanding health behavior has been questioned. This issue is examined in the current article. First, we discuss the problems within the HBT literature. Second, we discuss the proliferation of HBT and why theory comparison is essential to this area of research. Finally, we reflect on ways that the field might move forward by suggesting a new agenda for HBT research. It is argued that increased recognition of the similarity of health behavior constructs as well as increased empirical comparisons of theories are essential for true scientific progress in this line of inquiry.

Health Behavior↗
PubMed1999

Differences in self-reported health behaviors between public health professionals and support staff.

Differences in self-reported health behaviors between public health professionals and support staff were examined. 431 women working in nine county health departments in northern Illinois completed the Health-promoting Lifestyle Profile. The professionals reported a healthier lifestyle than the support staff. This result was significant after adjustment for age, race, educational attainment, and job tenure. The findings were discussed in the context of several theories of behavior and the Health Belief and Health Promotion Models. Suggestions for research are provided.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Smoking patterns, health behaviors, and health-risk behaviors of college women.

In 1993, 22% of college women smoked; in 1997, the rate increased to 29%. College-age women (<24 years) showed the greatest increase in smoking. The purpose of this study is to describe smoking behaviors of college women. The sample included 21 college-age female smokers. Each woman was interviewed about smoking habits and completed a health survey, the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine Dependence, a Self-Efficacy Scale for predicting smoking relapse, a Decisional Balance Scale for smoking, a readiness for change tool, and the Derogatis Stress Profile. The majority of the students began smoking at the age of 14 years or younger and smoked fewer than 10 cigarettes per day. The biggest obstacles to quitting were being around other smokers and social activities involving alcohol. These students did not smoke when ill and were interested in quitting smoking. Smoking frequency correlated significantly with dependency and stage of change. Advanced practice nurses have a unique opportunity to identify these young smokers, educate them about smoking-cessation options, and offer specific strategies to help these women stop smoking.

Adolescent↗