A Study on Health Perception, Health Knowledge, and Health Promoting Behavior in the Elderly

노인의 건강지각, 건강지식 및 건강증진행위에 관한 연구

Purpose: This study was a descriptive survey study to examine the degrees of the health perception, health knowledge, and health promoting behavior in the elderly, and the relationship among the above factors. Methods: Subjects were 183 persons with the age over 65 years living in Seoul. Measures were Health Perception Questionnaire (HPQ) developed by Ware (1979), the health knowledge instrument developed by Ha Gwi-Yeom (2005), and the Health Promotion Lifestyle Profile (HPLP) developed by Walker, Sechrist & Pender (1987) and modified by Hong Young-Ae (2003). Data were collected from March 4 to April 12, 2007. Data were analyzed by frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson's correlation using the SPSS program. Results: The mean level of health perception was 2.71(${\pm}0.77$), the mean level of health knowledge was 7.10(${\pm}1.82$), and the mean level of health promoting behavior $2.72{\pm}0.86$. Health promoting behavior showed a positive correlation with health perception (r=.715) and health knowledge (r=.543), and a positive relation was observed between health perception and health knowledge (r=.526). Conclusion: The enhancement of health perception and health knowledge are needed to improve health promoting behavior of the elderly. Also, the general characteristics of elderly should be considered to improve health promoting behavior of elderly.