Self-rated health status, self-efficacy, motivation, and selected demographics as determinants of health-promoting lifestyle behavior in men 35 to 64 years old : a nursing investigation

Men’s lifestyle habits are a national major public health problem, cause increased morbidity and mortality rates, and cost billions of dollars annually. Knowledge of a healthy lifestyle’s determinants and their relationships could be used to design and test effective intervention strategies that could change lifestyle behavior and enhance men’s health. Health promotion is a major nursing concern but few studies have been conducted to validate theoretical health-promoting determinants in working men. This study's purpose was to determine the extent to which perceived health status, self-efficacy, motivation, and selected demographic variables were related to health-promoting behavior (H-PB) in men. N.J. Pender’s (1987b) Health Promotion Model (HPM), which was expanded to include intrinsic motivation from Cox’s (1982) Interaction Model of Client Health Behavior, was used as the major framework. This cross-sectional, descriptive, correlational study was conducted on 167 mostly married, White men (education M = 15.9 years, SD = 2.4) (household annual income M = $70,204., SD = $41,593.). Data were collected on self-administered questionnaires which contained the self-rated health subindex of the Multilevel Assessment Instrument, the Self-Efficacy Scale, the Health Self- Determinism Index, demographic information, and the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP). Analyses included frequencies, correlations, stepwise multiple regression, and canonical correlation. H-PB variance (42.2%) was predicted by perceived health status, self-efficacy, motivation, and marriage, all of which cross-loaded on three significant canonical variates explaining variance (45.4%) in the HPLP subscores that had a cumulative redundancy index of 29.4%. The results partially supported previous research and the relationships posited in the HPM. Socioeconomic status demographic variables were not directly related to the HPM’s cognitive-perceptual variables. Marriage and motivation were major H-PB explanators and predictors. Results demonstrated that men with moderate to high perceived health status, self-efficacy, and motivation acknowledged spousal input concerning health, partially relied on their spouses for health responsibility, and practiced H-PB more than men with different characteristics. Future research should include qualitatively studying marriage’s effects on men’s motivation to practice H-PB, men’s approach to H-PB, and further HPLP testing and revision for a more culturally and socioeconomically relevant instrument