title: Hope and cardiovascular health-promoting behaviour: education alone is not enough.
abstract: We investigated hope's ability to predict cardiovascular disease (CVD) knowledge and health-promoting behaviours. Snyder defined hope as the combination of goal-directed planning and motivation, and theorised that high-hope people seek knowledge relevant to goal pursuits. We surveyed 391 Latino and Asian participants undergoing CVD risk screening, nearly all immigrants to the USA. This was a particularly important sample because, in general, these populations are considered underserved and under-researched. Pre-screening hope levels were measured. After screening and education, participants rated perceived importance of behaviour change. Behaviour change (salt/fat intake, exercise, CVD information-seeking and visiting a physician) and CVD knowledge were assessed one month later by telephone. Unexpectedly, hope did not predict knowledge. However, hope predicted self-reported behaviour change, though results differed by ethnicity. Among Asian individuals, hope × knowledge predicted reduced salt/fat, CVD information-seeking and physician visits. Among Latino individuals, hope × perceived importance of diet change predicted reduced salt/fat and hope × perceived importance of exercise change predicted increased exercise.
authors.affiliation: Department of Counseling Psychology, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA, USA. dbfeldman@scu.edu
authors.forename: David B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Feldman
authors.forename: Jonathan R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Sills
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D004032:Diet / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology; D004522:Educational Status; D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice / Q000208:ethnology*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009042:Motivation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012307:Risk Factors; D014481:United States