The Association Between Health Promotion Behavior and Health Status of Nursing Students

간호대학생의 건강증진 행위와 건강상태와의 상관관계 연구

This study was done for the purpose of investigating nursing students' health promotion behavior and health status and analyzing the relationship between health promotion behavior and health status. The subjects for this study were 249 nursing students obtained by a convenience sampleing from two Junior Colleges Located in Kangwon-do. The instruments used for this study were health promotion behavior scale developed by the researcher and modified Cornell Medical Index developed by Brodman, Erdmann, Lorge, Wolff & Broadbent. Data were collected from November 21 to December 10, 1994 by means of questionaire. The data were analyzed through the SPSS program by use of descriptive statistics, t-test, ANOVA and Pearson Correlation Coefficient. The results of the study were as follows; 1) The subject's degree of health promotion behavior was about middle level 2) When the relationships between health promotion behavior and their general characteristics were explored, economic status, importance of health & perceived health status were revealed to have significant differences. 3) The subject's health status was at slightly high level, therefore viewed their health as slightly good. 4) When the relationships between health status and their general characteristics were explored, age and perceived health status were revealed to have significant differences. 5) In regard to the relationship between health promotion behavior and health status, psychological health status correlated positively with health promotion behavior (r=.193, p=0.002) ; physical health status correlated positively with psychological health status (r=0.493, p=0.000). But, physical health status did not show a significant correlation with health promotion behavior. In conclusion, it is important for late adolescents including nursing students to lay the foundation for chronic disease prevention by promoting and maintaining healthy lifestyles. Many of the leading causes of disease are preventable, through changes in lifestyle. The need to increase individual awareness of relationships between lifestyle and health and to enhance knowledge regarding the long-term effects of negative health behaviors, is an important nursing strategy for health promotion.