Health Promotion Behavior among Elderly Person in Bansuan Sub-District, Chon Buri Province

Abstract

In Thailand, the number of elderly people is dramatically increasing. Therefore, health promotion and influencing factors need to be explored in order to address the undersirable consequences from the changing situation. This research aimed to assess health promotion behaviors among the elderly. It was conducted at Bansuan Sub-district, Muang District, Chonburi Province. The study subjects were 150 older persons selected by a random sampling. Data on individual’s perception of self worth, advantage of health promotion, and health promotion behaviors were collected by using a self reported questionnaire of which the Cronbach alpha’s reliability score was 0.86, 0.78, and 0.89, respectively. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlation coefficient. It was found that the subjects reported a moderate level of health promotion behaviors (67.67%), with the Mean of 3.38, SD=0.46. There is a positive correlation between perceived self-worth and health promotion behaviors (r=0.43), as well as between perceived advantage of health promotion and health promotion behaviors (r=0.71). Based on the finding, it was suggested that the perception of self-esteem and benefit of health promotion among elderly persons should be enhanced so that the level of health promotion behaviors would be increased. Thus, the health promotion issue in the elderly nursing curriculum should be regularly reviewed and improved; and the topics on elderly care should also be incorporated into other curricula such as the Family and Community Nursing. Such efforts would improve the knowledge in nursing science required for providing relevant effective health promotion and disease prevention services for the elderly.