Preventive procedures and practices among working class women: new data and fresh insights

Using a sample of lower working class mothers from South Wales, U.K. data is presented on the extent to which procedures, (behaviours which involve health professionals and services) and practices (behaviours which involve the individuals in day to day lifestyle choices) are interrelated and likely to be practised by the same people. The socio-demographic variables associated with each category separately and with the whole range of preventive behaviour are also described. The British data is considered in the light of current research on preventive health behaviour (PHB) which has relied heavily for both empirical data and theoretical insight on studies conducted in U.S.A. No evidence is found to support the proposition that PHB is undimensional nor on the other hand is there convincing support for the existence of hypothesized independent dimensions. It is argued that the failure of present theory to predict more than a comparatively small part of the variance in PHB has positive implications for researchers and health educators alike.