Determinants of health promotion activities in nursing clinic clients

Nursing clinic clients' health beliefs, values, and demographic characteristics were analyzed for their impact on health promotion activities. A sample of 175 clients was administered measures of health beliefs, health values, and health promotion activities. The type of health care clients had requested at the clinic for the previous 2 years was categorized as health promotion, illness prevention, health maintenance, or health restoration. Findings included: health value was not related to self-reported health promotion activities or to types of clinic visits; a strong belief in chance was negatively associated with engaging in health promotion activities; a strong belief in powerful others was negatively associated with a high percentage of restoration visits. The combination of beliefs, values, and selected demographic factors accounted for 16% of the variance in health promotion activities and 18% of the variance in the type of health care sought.