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From Cues to Action: Information Seeking and Exercise Self-Care among Older Adults Managing Chronic Illness*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 March 2010

Pak Hei Benedito Chou  and
Andrew V. Wister
Pak Hei Benedito Chou*
Affiliation:
Department of Gerontology, Simon Fraser University at Harbour Centre
Andrew V. Wister
Affiliation:
Department of Gerontology, Simon Fraser University at Harbour Centre
*
Requests for offprints should be sent to: / Les demandes de tirés-à-part doivent être addressées à : Pak Hei Benedito Chou, #2800–515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 5K3. (phchou@sfu.ca)
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Abstract

Drawing from the health belief model, cues to action have been theorized to influence health behaviours; however, few studies have examined these constructs explicitly. This study investigated the relationship between information cues to action and exercise self-care. It was hypothesized that reading about illness information, knowing about services, and consulting with others about one's illness triggers exercise self-care. The sample consisted of 879 chronically ill adults aged 50 and over, drawn from the Vancouver North Shore Self-Care Study. It was found that the odds of exercising almost doubled for readers of information about illness (compared to non-readers), after controlling for socio-demographic factors, illness context, and illness efficacy. Furthermore, knowledge of services and consultations were shown to increase the odds of exercise self-care. These findings provide support for the salience of cues to action as a pivotal theoretical construct. The implications of these findings for health promotion programs targeting persons with chronic illnesses are discussed.

Résumé

À partir du mode`le de croyance à la santé, des pistes d'action visant à influencer les comportements en matière de santé ont été élaborées; cependant, peu d'études ont abordé ces concepts de façon explicite. La présente étude examine la relation entre l'autogestion de la santé et les informations pouvant pousser une personne à prendre des mesures. Nous avons émis l'hypothèse que les lectures comportant des renseignements sur les maladies, la connaissance des services, ainsi que la consultation d'autres personnes au sujet de sa propre maladie stimulaient une gestion autonome de la santé. L'échantillon, tiré du Vancouver North Shore Self—Care Study, était constitué de 879 adultes atteints de maladies chroniques et âgés de 50 ans et plus. Nous avons découvert que la probabilité de prendre des mesures d'autogestion de la santé était presque deux fois plus élevée chez les gens qui lisaient des informations sur la maladie (par comparaison avec ceux qui n'en lisaient pas), après avoir effectué des vérifications relatives aux facteurs sociodémographiques, au contexte de la maladie et à l'activité intrinsèque de la maladie. Par ailleurs, la connaissance des services et les consultations semblaient accroître la probabilité que l'on prenne des mesures d'autogestion de la santé. Ces résultats semblent démontrer l'importance des informations pouvant pousser les gens à prendre des mesures à titre de concept théorique fondamental. Les conséquences potentielles de ces résultats sur les programmes de promotion qui ciblent les personnes atteintes de maladies chroniques sont abordées.

Keywords

agingchronic diseasechronic illnesscues to actionhealth belief modelexerciseself-carevieillissementmaladie chroniquepistes d'actionmodèle de croyance à la santéexerciceautogestion de la sante
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 24 , Issue 4 , Winter/Hiver 2005 , pp. 395 - 408
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2005

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Footnotes

*

We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments.

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