ABSTRACT Rural, community dwelling elderly have been identified as a vulnerable group in terms of nutritional and health promotion behavior (Zulkowski, 2000). The purpose of this study was to describe health promoting nutrition behaviors and their association with perceived health status among a sample of rural community dwelling elderly in the Midwest. This study is a secondary analysis of a dissertation database (Newberry, 2002) examining health promoting behaviors of the rural well older adult. Pender’s Health Promotion Model and the work of Pullen, Walker, and Fiandt (2001) in developing determinants of health-promoting lifestyles provided the theoretical framework. Data for this study were obtained from the database of the primary study. Data for the primary study were collected from a convenience sample of 440 senior dining center attendees over 60 years of age. Survey instruments used were the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP II), the Short Form-8 Health Survey (SF-8), and a demographic questionnaire. The nine health promoting nutrition behaviors, considered in this study as a subset from the HPLP II of the sample, were found to be consistently variable. Significant positive associations were found between the demographic characteristics of being married, female, and having completed a higher educational level and more frequent health promoting nutritional behaviors (choosing low fat, low cholesterol; limiting sweets; eating fruits; reading food labels; eating breakfast). Strategies for promoting nutrition education among older adults who are male, have a lower formal educational level, and who are not married need to be developed and tested, i.e. label reading, nutrition and disease. The role that health promoting nutrition behaviors has on the actual nutritional status and functional ability of older adults needs to be addressed.
Session #1223 - Graduate Student Poster Session
The 29th Annual MNRS Research Conference (April 1-4, 2005)