A Study on Physiological Parameters, Health Perception, and Health Behavior of Adults in Kyungi Province Area

Han, Ae Kyung; Cho, Dong Sook

Abstract

PURPOSE: The purpose was to investigate the physiological parameters and health perception of adults in Kyungi province area, and the correlation between these variables. The subjects were 95 adults who participated voluntarily in the health examination program.
Methods
The instruments for this study were physiological parameters, which were composed of blood pressure, blood sugar, and body fat. The health perception scale developed by Ware (1976), and the health practice performance scale developed by Chang et al. (1999).
Results
The average blood pressure was 137/85mmHg, the average blood sugar was 108.56mg/dl, and the average body fat arm sunt was 27.08% in males, and 30.07% in females. There were significant negative correlation between health perception and blood sugar (r=-2.36, p=.01), and body fat (r= -2.77, p=.001). There were significant positive correlations between blood pressure and health behavior (r=2.76, p=.001). However a significant correlation between health perception and health behavior was not found. Of the sociodemographic characteristics, sex (F=5.42, p=.01), and marital status (F=3.29, p=.04) were related to blood pressure. Also sex (F=4.17, p=.04) was related to body fat, and sex (t=4.04, p=.03) was related to health perception and disease status (t=4.33, p=.040). Thus having a relationship with health behavior.
CONCLUSION
It is suggested that health perception provide important information about health status. However, this study has not shown a correlation between health perception and health behavior. Therefore further research is needed to find the other variables related to health behavior.