Health Conception and Health-Promoting Lifestyle among Older Adults: The Validation of a Structural

Using data from the Older Adult Project within the Health Promotion Research Program at Northern Illinois University, this study examined four dimensions of health conception and their relationship to six dimensions of health-promoting lifestyle in a population of older adults (n=364). A battery of instruments was administred to all subjects to measure health conception, health-promoting lifestyle, importance of health, perceived control of health, perceived health status, perceived benefits of exercise, perceived barriers to exercise; demographic information was also obtained. Using these data, an analysis of covariance was conducted to compare the goodness of fit of two alternate models of the relationship between health conception and health-promoting lifestyle derived from the literature. hIdel A hypothesized s'..rength of health conception as the single underlying dimension progressively related to the four health conception scales (eudaimonistic, adaptive, role performance, and clinical); Model B suggested that the adaptive and eudamonistic health conception variables weL-e strongly related to one another. Results of the analysis suggest that Model B was best fitted to the data. A discussion of these findings and their implications ensues, and recommendations for further research for are made. References are included and structural equation charts of the two models under investigation are appended. (TE) * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the bcst that can be made * from the original document. Health Conception and Health-Promoting Lifestyle Among Older Adults: The Validation of a Structural Equation Model U I DEPARTMENT OR EDUCATION Office at Education& Research end Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 7This document Ms been reproduced es received from the person or organization onoinsting 0 Min Or changes Mve been mode to improve reproduction (Moldy Points of view or opinions *toted in this documint do not necessarily represent officiel OERI position or policy "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY v' n /Oln TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)" Kevin Volkan, Ed.D. Assistant to the Dean Graduate Studies and Research University of California at Santa Cruz Originally presented as a paper at the 36th Annual Meeting of the American Society on Aging, April 8, 1990 (The author wishes to thank Dr. Susan N. Walker and Dr. Nola J. Pender, Health Promotion Research Program, Northern Illinois University; Dr. Marvin Powell and Dr. Robert Karabinus, Department of Educational Psychology, Northern Illinois University; and Dr. Shirley C. Laffrey, Dept. of Community and Mental Health Nursing, University of California at San Francisco, for their invaluable assistance, support and patience.) This study was supported by the National Center for Nursing Research, National Institutes of Health, grant number 5 P01 NR 01121-02 :Health Conception and Health-Promoting Lifestyle Health Conception and Health-Promoting Lifestyle Among Older Adults: The Validation of a Structural Equation Model Recently, there has been a great deal of interest generated in healthy lifestyle due to the publication of Healthy People: The Surgeon General's Report on Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and a follow-up document, Promoting Health/Preventing Disease: Objectives for the Nation, as well as the more recently released The 1990 Health Objectives for the Nation: A Midcourse Review (U.S. Public Health Service, 1979, 1980, 1986). These documents have not only increased awareness about healthy lifestyle practices, but have inspired researchers and clinicians to form theoretical models of its structure. One such model has been conceptualizec. by Pender (1987). This model of healthy lifestyle practices consists of two components related to illness prevention and health promotion. The health-promoting lifestyle component may have special significance for older adults. Healthpromoting (as opposed to illness preventing) lifestyle and its determinants, however, have not been extensively studied in the elderly. Of the possible determinants of health-promoting lifestyle in older adults, health conception may play an important role. Little specific information is known about the nature of health conccption and its relationship to healthpromoting lifestyle in older adults. Using data from the Older Aduit Project within the Health Promotion Research Program at Northern Illinois University, this study examined four dimensions of health conception and their relationship to six dimensions of health-promoting lifestyle in a population of older adults.