| Learning Objective #1: Identify the methodological steps to developing the health-promoting behaviors measure | |||
| Learning Objective #2: Describe the relevance of the health-promoting behaviors measure to African-Americans |
Objective: Health promotion has been lauded as a means to lower African-American mortality rates. Many existing measures of health behaviors have been developed primarily with middle-class White samples. Information specific to African-American experiences may be missing. Capturing this information may help healthcare providers better understand how African-American health behaviors differ. The purpose of this study is to develop a reliable measure of African-Americans health-promoting behaviors.
Design: Mixed methods of quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used in this study.
Population: The first phase of this study consisted of focus group participants (n=18) from rural and metropolitan cities. The mean age was 37.9 years (SD=10.8) and the majority (n=12) were married. The second phase sample consisted of 301 African-Americans residing in the southeast with 36% (n=108) males, 45% married, and 30% (n=90) completing the 12th grade.
Methods: After content analysis of the qualitative data, seventy-eight items were written to reflect the number of times in the past 30 days individuals reported implementing each activity. Three experts reviewed items for clarity, readability, and coherence. Content validity was established. Ten nurse experts were used to evaluate each item’s relevancy to a health-promoting lifestyle on a 6-point scale ranging from none to most relevant. Nurse experts also sorted each item into 9 categories. Items with seventy-five percent congruence for relevance and categorization were used in subsequent analyses.
Findings: A final instrument with 45 items and 4 subscales resulted with Cronbach alphas ranging from .73-.98. Having each subject report the number of times a behavior was implemented should provide a better representation of health behavior frequencies. This is different from some of the other previously published measures.
Implications: Better measurement should contribute to interventions designed to promote healthier lifestyles for African-Americans. Healthier lifestyles and more effective interventions should lead to decreased mortality and morbidity rates.
Back to Population Specific Research
Back to 14th International Nursing Research Congress
Sigma Theta Tau International
10-12 July 2003