Comparison of Stroke Knowledge, Health Beliefs, and Stroke Prevention Behavior between Early and Middle-Aged Adults

Background: The onset age of stroke is decreasing, leading to social loss. As such, primary stroke prevention is important. This study aimed to compare the stroke knowledge, health beliefs, and stroke prevention behavior between early and middle-aged adults.Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, a survey was conducted in three small cities in Korea from June to October 2020. The study used a structured self-report questionnaire that included items on stroke knowledge, including risk factors, warning signs, and urgent action, health beliefs, and stroke prevention behavior, as well as collected data on respondents’ demographic characteristics. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, t-test, 2 test, and Pearson’s correlation coefficients using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 26.0.Results: The participants included 104 early adults (aged below 40 years) and 143 middle-aged adults (aged 40∼64 years). The two groups showed a significant difference in their health beliefs scores. By contrast, they did not show a significant difference in their scores for stroke prevention behavior. However, their scores for health responsibility (t=−2.00, p=.047), nutrition (t=4.24, p＜.001), and interpersonal relationships (t=2.04, p=.042) were significantly different.Conclusions: Early and middle-aged adults showed differences in health beliefs and the stroke prevention behavior subfactors of health responsibility, nutrition, and interpersonal relationships. The present findings may be used when planning interventions or education programs for primary stroke prevention.