The association between health care behavior and attitudes.

A study was conducted to document the extent to which persons engage in health promotion and disease prevention behaviors, and to examine demographic and attitudinal variables associated with those behaviors. Health promotion behaviors are those undertaken by a person to stay healthy that do not require the assistance of a health professional (eg, exercising). Disease prevention behaviors are those undertaken to stay healthy that do require the assistance of a professional (eg, physical exam). The study design was descriptive. Data were collected from a convenience sample of 104 emergency room (ER) patients using an interview guide developed by the authors. Two major findings were that: a) individuals were more apt to go to the doctor than do health promotion behaviors in order to be healthy; and b) individuals who expressed belief in health promotion behaviors were more likely to practice them than were those who did not express such a belief. Two demographic variables were related.