A Prediction Model for Health Promoting Behavior in Obese Middle-Aged Women

Purpose: This study was conducted to identify influencing factors in a health promotion model that explains and predicts health promoting behavior in obese middle-aged women.Methods: Based on Pender’s health promotion model, a hypothetical model was constructed with nine factors (emotional eating, obesity stress, perceived benefits of action, perceived barriers to action, perceived self-efficacy, activity-related affect, social support, commitment to a plan of action, and health promoting behavior). The participants were 215 obese middle-aged women who visited one of three health check-up centers in Seoul, Incheon, or Gyeonggi Province to receive health check-ups through the National Health Insurance Corporation. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire.Results: In the final research model, the factors that had a direct impact on health promoting behavior of obese middle-aged women were obesity stress (β=-.17, p=.001), perceived self-efficacy (β=.34, p<.001), activity-related affect (β=.22, p<.001), commitment to a plan of action (β=.34, p<.001). The explanatory power was 51.3%.Conclusion: This study found that a higher level of engagement in health promoting behavior was associated with lower obesity stress, higher perceived self-efficacy, better activity-related affect, and a higher commitment to a plan of action. These results may be used as a basis for the development of a nursing intervention program to improve health promoting behavior in obese middle-aged women.