SRINAGARIND MEDICAL JOURNAL

Volume 35, No. 03, Month MAY, Year 2020, Pages 304 - 310

Health status and health behaviors among elderly in kham kwang sub-district, warin chamrap district, ubon ratchathani province

Mintra Sararuk, Thitirat Nganchamung, Nantaya Krasuaythong

Abstract Download PDF

Background and Objective: Good health behaviors could affect physical and mental health status. This study aimed to explore health status, health behaviors level and the relationship between health behaviors level and health status among elderly in Kham Kwang Sub-district, Warin Chamrap District, Ubon Ratchathani Province. Method: This was a survey study in a sample of 200 elderly, aged 60 year and older by purposive sampling. Data were collected by an interview form assessing health behaviors in the elderly and Thai GHQ-28 form developed by the Department of Mental Health with the Cornbrach’s alpha of 0.79 and 0.92 respectively, and access physical health status with general health check up. The descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage), Chi-square test and Fisher’s Exact Test were used to analyze the data. Results: Results revealed that the elderly had chronic illness 50.5% (the top 3 were hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia, 30.7%, 23.8% and 8.4% respectively). There were 40.0% of the elderly being overweight and obesity 53.3% , 86.5% had normal mental health.The overall health behaviors were good level (88.5%) and correlated with mental health status statistically significant (p=0.02). Health behaviors regarding physical activity and stress management needed to be improved. Conclusion: Health behaviors level and health status of the elderly should be promoted in the form of health promotion and disease prevention

Keywords

Health Status, Health Behaviors, Elderly

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