[Attitudes and health status as determinants of participation in individually oriented health promotion]

In a cross-sectional health survey among employees of a large German metal company with 974 study participants, attitudes and aspects of the individual health status were identified which predispose employees to take part in individual health promotion activities. Apart from higher participation rates in women and white collar employees, participants reported on average a less favourable subjective health status, more complaints and diseases, better health related behaviours, and a more intensive utilization of curative and preventive medical services than nonparticipants. Among men, participation in all types of courses increased from the youngest to the oldest group, among women only until the middle-aged groups with a consequent decline thereafter. In men, the image of a person living health-consciously showed the strongest positive association with participation, and not the degree of internal control and responsibility with respect to the maintenance of health or the acquisition and overcoming of disease. The low participation of blue collar workers compared to white collar employees could be attributed to group specific differences in individual health consciousness only to a very small extent. Blue collar participants reported a positive image of a person living health-consciously that was more similar to that of white collar participants than to that of nonparticipants of their own occupational group. Advertisement for health promoting activities should place more emphasis on increasing the image of personal health promotion than on internal control and responsibility for health.