Predictors of a health-promoting lifestyle and behaviors among low-income African American mothers and white mothers of chronically ill children

J Natl Med Assoc. 2009 Feb;101(2):103-10. doi: 10.1016/s0027-9684(15)30821-x.

Abstract

This study used Health Self-Empowerment (HSE) Theory as a framework for examining the predictors of engagement in both a health-promoting lifestyle and individual health-promoting behaviors among low-income African American mothers and non-Hispanic white mothers (N = 96), each of whom is the primary caregiver for a chronically ill adolescent. The individual health-promoting behaviors investigated are eating a healthy diet, exercising consistently, stress management practices, and health responsibility behaviors. The examined HSE Theory-based predictor variables were health self-efficacy, active coping, health motivation, and health self-praise. Multiple regression analyses revealed that these predictor variables together accounted for a significant amount of variance (67%) in level of engagement in a health-promoting lifestyle. Additionally, active coping, health self-praise, health self-efficacy, and health motivation were significant individual predictors of 1 or more individual health-promoting behaviors. Findings from this study suggest that further research should be conducted to assess the usefulness of HSE Theory in predicting level of engagement in health-promoting behaviors and to examine the effectiveness of HSE Theory-based interventions for increasing health-promoting behaviors among women similar to those in this study. The findings also suggest that health care providers should promote active coping, health self-praise, health self-efficacy, and health motivation to increase health-promoting behaviors among patients who are similar to those in this study.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Black or African American
  • Caregivers
  • Chronic Disease / ethnology
  • Chronic Disease / therapy*
  • Female
  • Florida
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice*
  • Health Promotion*
  • Health Surveys
  • Humans
  • Life Style*
  • Middle Aged
  • Mothers / statistics & numerical data*
  • Poverty
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Psychological Theory
  • Self Efficacy
  • White People