Preventive Health Behavior and Readiness for Self-Management in a Multilingual Adult Population: A Representative...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Health Services Research
• Sociology of Health

Background:

• Preventive health behaviors are crucial for disease prevention and health system sustainability.
• Population-level factors influencing preventive behaviors are understudied in multilingual regions.
• South Tyrol, a multilingual region in Italy, offers a unique setting to study these factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine how sociodemographic, linguistic, and psychosocial factors shape preventive health behaviors in South Tyrol.
• To identify key predictors of preventive behaviors in a diverse population.
• To inform public health strategies for multilingual settings.

Main Methods:

• A population-representative survey of 2090 adults in South Tyrol.
• Assessment of preventive behavior using the Good Health Practices Scale (GHP-16).
• Multivariable linear regression analysis to identify associations with sociodemographic, linguistic, and psychosocial factors including health literacy (HLS-EU-Q16) and patient activation (PAM-10).

Main Results:

• Preventive behaviors varied significantly across demographic, psychosocial, and linguistic groups.
• Female sex, older age, higher education, higher patient activation, and sufficient health literacy were associated with better preventive behaviors.
• Italian speakers reported higher preventive behavior scores than German speakers, and mistrust in health professionals was inversely associated with these behaviors.

Conclusions:

• Demographic, psychosocial, and linguistic factors significantly shape preventive health behaviors in South Tyrol.
• Patient activation and health literacy are key modifiable predictors of preventive behaviors.
• Language-based differences highlight disparities requiring tailored public health interventions in multilingual regions.