A Predictive Model of Health Promotion Behavior in Obese School-Age Children

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to propose and to test a predictive model that could explain and predict the health promotion behavior of obese school-age children in Korea. METHODS: Participants for this study were 365 students from 13 elementary schools located in Jeonbuk Province, Korea. The data were analyzed using SPSS 15.0 program and Amos 7.0 program. RESULTS: The results verified the factors that influence health promotion behavior of the participants. Important direct factors were prior health-related behavior, perceived self-efficacy, and commitment to a plan of action and indirect factors were perceived barrier and activity-related effect. These factors explained 75.3% of variance in the participants' health promotion behavior. The proposed model was concise and extensive in predicting health promotion behavior of the participants. CONCLUSION: Findings may provide useful assistance in developing effective nursing interventions for maintaining and promoting health promotion behavior in obese school-age children.