A Survey on Physical Health Status and Health Behavior Practice in Elderly People

Jang, Eun Hee

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to identify the physical health status and health behavior practice of elderly people in order to provide basic data for effective nursing interventions to promote health and quality of life. METHOD: The participants for this study were 299 elderly persons in D city. Data were collected by interview with a questionnaire. RESULTS: Average score for the physical health status of the participants was 3.98. There was a significant difference in average scores for physical health status for the variables age, sex, marital status, education level, religion, monthly income, source of living expense, perceived health status, alcohol use and type of household. The average score for the health behavior practice of the participants was 99.52, which means that elderly persons have good health behavior. There was a significant difference in average scores for health behavior practice for the variables age, sex, education level, perceived health status and type of household. Perceived health status, education level and alcohol use explained 50.6% of the variance for physical health status. Perceived health status and education level explained 27.4% of the variance for health behavior practice. CONCLUSION: To promote health behavior in elderly people, it is necessary to develop nursing interventions that take into consideration sociocultural traditions and demographic characteristics.