Women's participation in community health education: an empirical study.

This study identifies reasons for participation in community health education and determines if selected sociodemographic variables correlate with reasons for participation. The subjects were women (N = 400) who had attended hospital-based health education programs in a midwest urban area. An instrument was developed containing 36 items describing the concept "reasons for participation." Factor analysis revealed six interpretable factors: social acceptance, professional/personal advancement, personal insight, personal satisfaction, fulfillment of responsibilities, and self-enrichment. Age, marital status, occupation, number of children, educational attainment, and family income correlated with three of the six factors.