Factors Influencing Health Knowledge and Behaviors among the Elderly in Rural China

Abstract

Objectives: Health knowledge and behaviors are the key elements that ensure high quality of health for the elderly. This study explored and determined the conditions and factors of health knowledge and behaviors that affect the elderly in rural China. Methods: A cross-sectional research approach and random stratified sampling method were used in 12 towns and 48 villages in the Chongqing Municipality, Henan, and Zhejiang Provinces in China from June to September 2013. The collected data included: (1) socio-demographic characteristics of 1593 elderly people; (2) accuracy rate on health knowledge of the elderly, which was analyzed and compared among the three sample areas by using Chi-square test; and (3) mean scores on the health behaviors of the elderly, which were analyzed and compared by using analysis of variance (ANOVA). The multiple-linear regression method was used to analyze the factors affecting the health knowledge and behaviors of the elderly. Results: Significant differences were observed among the nine items in the health knowledge questionnaire (p = 0.000 < 0.001). The average accuracy rate of the nine items was 57.43%. Significant differences were observed among the eleven items on the health behaviors of the elderly in the sample rural areas (p = 0.000 < 0.001). Age, economic level, degree of education, distance from home to medical institutions and disposable personal income (DPI) can affect the scores of the health knowledge and behaviors of the elderly (p = 0.000 < 0.001). Conclusions: Lack of health knowledge and poor health behaviors are common among the elderly in the sample areas of rural China. This deficiency poses a serious threat on the promotion of health conditions and the improvement of the level of health quality among the elderly. Different types of access to sources of health knowledge should be used to increase health knowledge scores of the elderly. Various potential intervening measures should also be adopted to improve their health behaviors of elderly people.

Differences in the health behaviors of elderly individuals and influencing factors: Evidence from the ChineseLongitudinalHealthyLongevitySurvey

“…The proportion of health behavior and lifestyle in the 65 to 69 age cohort was 5.26% and that in the 55 to 64 age cohort was 5.90% . There are few studies on health behaviors among elderly people in China, and those that are available are often restricted to a small number of provinces with the number of selected samples being relatively small . Due to the large population of elderly people in China and its uneven distribution among different provinces, urban and rural areas, these studies do not give a holistic picture of the health behaviors of elderly people in China.…”

“…23 There are few studies on health behaviors among elderly people in China, and those that are available are often restricted to a small number of provinces with the number of selected samples being relatively small. [24][25][26] Due to the large population of elderly people in China and its uneven distribution among different provinces, urban and rural areas, these studies do not give a holistic picture of the health behaviors of elderly people in China. For China, a country with a large population of elderly people and a high incidence of chronic diseases among elderly individuals, it is of great significance to have a thorough understanding of the status concerning health behaviors in elderly people and their influencing factors to take corresponding measures in promoting elderly health behaviors.…”

Lifestyle of the elderly living in rural and urban areas measured by the FANTASTIC Life Inventory

“…To-date, a large number of studies have been published on the health behaviours of the elderly with the use of different research methods and tools measuring people's lifestyle [13][14][15]. In Poland, tools created by Juczyński and purchased by Psychological Test Laboratory of the Polish Psychological Association are very popular, e.g.…”

Sociodemographic disparity in health-related behaviors and dietary habits among governmental employees in Hunan, China

“…In recent years, the Chinese government has been gradually strengthening the policies against tobacco use, and the group intervention on smoking cessation based on social cognitive theory could be effective to reduce smoking [30,31]. Male smokers in the high age group lacking health knowledgeable and ignoring the proper health behaviors, cannot su ciently understand the need for preventive measures [32,33], even reduce the stress of social isolation, economic hardship, prior trauma, and the loss of power and status by smoking [34]. In addition, we found young females and males had a high rate of leisure-time physical inactivity, late sleeping and sedentary behavior, which was consistent with previous research [35].…”