Health-promoting behaviours in public health: testing the health promotion model.
A health-promoting lifestyle encompasses far more than preventing disease and is characterised by behaviours that lead to optimal well-being, self-actualisation, and personal fulfillment. This study was undertaken to investigate the health-promoting lifestyles of employees working in local public health departments (n = 602) and to test two research hypotheses suggested by the Health Promotion Model. The first hypothesis posited that public health professionals would report significantly more favourable health-promoting behaviours than support staff employed in the same departments. The second hypothesis postulated that occupational discipline in public health would be a significant predictor of health-promoting behaviours. Health-promoting behaviours were measured by the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP), a psychometrically-validated measure of overall health-promoting lifestyle and six dimensions of health-promoting behaviours, which comprise the instrument's subscales. The findings of the study tended to support the research hypotheses. Overall, public health professionals tended to report more favourable health-promoting behaviours than departmental support staff, and occupational discipline was a significant predictor of a health-promoting lifestyle. In general, public health nursing personnel reported the highest mean levels of health-promoting behaviours compared to the other occupational disciplines examined.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003071:Cognition; D003463:Cues; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D015438:Health Behavior; D006293:Health Promotion; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D010549:Personal Satisfaction; D011315:Preventive Medicine; D011635:Public Health Administration; D011637:Public Health Nursing; D012647:Self-Assessment; D000078329:Workforce