Individual, social-environmental, and physical-environmental factors that underlie sense of coherence in Dutch adults

Abstract

Antonovsky's salutogenesis is a theoretical perspective on health development that explores physical, mental, and social factors that contribute to a 'healthy life orientation' and also a theoretical approach to behavior change. Previous studies applying salutogenesis show that a high sense of coherence (SOC), a composite measure from salutogenesis indicating one's capacity to cope with stress, is associated with a healthy life orientation and lifestyle behaviors, including healthy eating patterns. However, limited evidence exists on the factors that underlie SOC, which could be used to strengthen this capacity as a means to enable healthier eating. Dutch adults ( N = 781) participated in a cross-sectional study examining the relationship between SOC and a set of individual, social-environmental, and physical-environmental factors. The main findings indicate that high SOC was associated with a diverse set of factors including lower doctor-oriented health locus of control; higher satisfaction with weight; higher perceived levels of neighborhood collective efficacy; higher situational self-efficacy for healthy eating; lower social discouragement for healthy eating; and higher neighborhood affordability, accessibility and availability of healthy foods. These findings can inform the design of nutrition interventions that target these factors that strengthen SOC and provide the building blocks for a healthier life orientation.

Public Health Citizen Science; Perceived Impacts on Citizen Scientists: A Case Study in a Low-Income Neighbourhood in the Netherlands

“…SOC scores appear to be in line with data collected with this scale in a study of 781 Dutch persons of 18 years and older, which showed high SOC for 386 persons and low SOC for 395 persons (Swan et al 2016). No significant change of SOC scores occurred.…”

“…Scores on SOC were calculated by adding up the points (1-7) marked for each item. Similar to previous research with this scale in the Netherlands, we rated SOC ≤ 67 as "low" and SOC ≥ 68 as "high" (Swan et al 2016).…”

Present and future of nutrition guidance : lifestyle advice in primary care

“…Innovations in behaviour change theory and what health means for individuals can be helpful in this. An example of this is the application of the Salutogenic Framework to Nutrition Research and Practice (147)(148)(149)(150)(151)(152). The definition of health is in discussion in science, and changing (153,154).…”

Women’s reasons for declining cardiovascular screening – a qualitative study

“…Life experiences that mattered to the women who participated in our study were maintaining control of their daily lives and making their own decisions. Similarly, Swan et al (39) found a correlation between a high SOC and empowerment. The authors concluded that empowerment supported the individuals who relied on their skills, resources, opportunities and authority to manage their everyday lives.…”

“…The women found meaningfulness in relying on their own interpretation of their health status. Several studies indicate that managing a potential stressor through self-interpretation seems to be meaningful when facing a screening invitation and deciding not to attend the screening (20,38,39). According to the review of Stol et al (38), people who feel healthy and t have no concerns about their health status and consider their cardiovascular risk to be low.…”