The predictors of adopting a health-promoting lifestyle among work site adults with prediabetes

Abstract

Aim and objective: To examine how prediabetes knowledge, health beliefs and self-efficacy of health behaviour contribute to work site adults adopting a health-promoting lifestyle and to analyse these three factors as independent variables to identify key predictors of adopting health-promoting lifestyles.

Background: Health providers use health-promoting lifestyle interventions as the primary approach in preventing diabetes. However, many influential factors make it difficult for individuals to adopt a health-promoting lifestyle. Furthermore, no previous study has examined prediabetes knowledge, health beliefs, self-efficacy of health behaviour and health-promoting lifestyle in work site adults with prediabetes, especially among Asians.

Design: This was a cross-sectional study of 260 adults at four work sites in southern Taiwan.

Method: Patients with prediabetes were given a cross-sectional questionnaire about prediabetes knowledge, health beliefs, self-efficacy of health behaviour and health-promoting lifestyle. Multiple stepwise regression analysis was used to determine predictors of implementing health-promoting lifestyles.

Results: In general, this study found that over age 45 and a BMI above 25 kg/m(2) are risk factors for prediabetes. A 47.5% variance in implementing health-promoting lifestyle was explained by a model that included self-efficacy of health behaviour (beta = 0.519, p < 0.001), perceived action barrier (beta = -0.207, p = 0.001) and perceived action benefits (beta = 0.129, p = 0.023).

Conclusions: Work site health care units should identify prediabetes cases and teach diet control strategies for reducing body weight. By designing behaviour self-regulation protocol to promote self-management for prediabetic individuals, organisations could enhance self-efficacy and delay further development of diabetes.

Relevance to clinical practice: Findings guide the clinical assessment (e.g. self-efficacy) of prediabetic adults regarding their health-promoting lifestyles and provide effective guidelines for designing lifestyle interventions to prevent prediabetes in high-risk groups.