THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HEALTH BELIEF AND DEMENTIA PREVENTIVE BEHAVIOR IN OLDER ADULTS WITH HYPERTENSION

Abstract

Abstract

     This descriptive study aimed to determine the relationship between health belief and dementia preventive behaviors in older adults with hypertension. The sample consisted of 120 older adults with hypertension who have received treatment at the medicine clinic of Sena hospital, Phranakon Sri Ayutthaya province. Simple random sampling was used to recruit participants. The research instruments included the Personal Data Interview, the Health Belief Questionnaire and the Dementia Preventive Behavior Questionnaire. Data were analyzed by using Spearman rank correlation, since distribution of the data is not a normal curve. Findings from this study showed that majority of the samples (77.5%) had a high level of dementia preventive behaviors. Health belief had a positive and moderate relationship (r_s = 0.40) with dementia preventive behaviors in the older adults with hypertension at the level of .01. For health belief dimensions, it was found that perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits of taking action and perceived severity of dementia had a positive and moderate relationship (r_s = 0.33, 0.33, and 0.30, respectively), perceived self-efficacy and perceived cues to action had a positive and weak relationship (r_s = 0.29, 0.24, respectively) and perceived barriers had a negative and moderate relationship (r_s = -0.33) with the dementia preventive behaviors in the older adults with hypertension at the level of .01.

     The results suggest that nurses should apply these results in providing health education for the older adults with hypertension based on their health beliefs and promoting appropriate health behaviors for dementia prevention in the older adults with hypertension.