The relationship between self-rated health and health promoting behaviors among college nursing students

49^th Annual Nursing Research and Evidence Based Practice Conference

August 20-21, 2018 Tokyo, Japan

Susan Ka Yee Chow, Lam Kin Man, Lie Shih Hung, Mak Ka Chun, Mong Ka Chun, So Chun Man and Yuen Wai Yip

Tung Wah College, Hong Kong

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Adv Practice Nurs

Abstract :

Background: Nurses are expected to be the role model in health promotion and they should adopt healthy lifestyle to live a productive life. The unhealthy lifestyles developed in young age may continue into adulthood which could create an impact on the individual, family and community health. As a key member of the healthcare professional, nurses are required to be an advocate in health promotion and related activities. Self-rated health is commonly used in health research to gauze the general health status of the participants. The single question is found valid and reliable to predict the morbidity and mortality. A complex relationship exists between self-rated health and health behaviors. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between self-rated health and health promoting lifestyle of nursing students in junior and senior year and to explore the demographic factors that are affecting the adoption of healthy lifestyle among nursing students. It is a cross-sectional study. The junior (year 2) and senior year (year 5) nursing students were invited to participate. The study was conducted between January to April 2018. A total of 325 students were recruited, including 173 junior year students and 152 senior year students. Results: The majority of nursing students were female (78.3%), with part-time job (71.7%), lived with family (96.8%) and nonsmokers (99.7%). Significant difference was found between junior and senior year students on health responsibility. Moderate positive correlation was found between health management and spiritual growth (r=0.61, p<0.001), nutrition and physical activities (r=0.42, p<0.001). Family conflict was a factor that significantly affecting nursing studentsâ?? self-rated health. Gender, year of study, part-time work and religious belief were significantly factors that affected their health-promoting lifestyle. Conclusion & Significance: Interventions are encouraged to be implemented to the junior year students to enhance their health responsibilities. Further studies are required to find how family conflicts are affecting an individualâ??s self-rated health. Conflict management could be embedded into nursing curriculum to improve the wellbeing of nursing students. The longitudinal study for the same cohort of students is recommended to evaluate the trend of self-perceived health and health promotion lifestyle of college students.

Biography :

Susan Ka Yee Chow is the Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Tung Wah College. Over the past years, she has gained vast experiences in nursing education and academic program administration. She is the Associate Editor of BMC Nursing and the Editorial Board Member of Open Nursing Research. She serves as a Reviewer of various international nursing and health care journals. She has published widely in international referee journals and her research areas are nurse case management, care of patients with chronic diseases, teaching and learning of nursing students and instrument testing. Her teaching areas are community health nursing, health education and promotion and nursing research.

E-mail: susanchow@twc.edu.hk