Factors Affecting Health-promoting Behaviors in Nursing Students of the Faculty of Nursing, Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand

Abstract

This research was a cross-sectional study aimed to a) examine the relationships between study level, monthly income, perceived benefits of action, perceived barriers to action, perceived self-efficacy, and health-promoting behaviors, and b) explore factors affecting health-promoting behaviors of nursing students. An accidental sampling was used to sample 323 nursing students in the second semester of the Academic Year 2009 of the Faculty of Nursing, Srinakharinwirot University, Thailand. Data collection was employed on September 2009 using a self-administered scale developed by researchers and guided by Pender’s health promotion model. Descriptive statistics (i.e., percentage, mean and standard deviation) and analytic statistics (i.e., One-way ANOVA, Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficients, and Stepwise multiple regression analysis) were utilized to analyze data. The finding revealed that most of participants were first year nursing students (30.0%) and received a monthly income of 3,000-6,000 baht (87.3%). The sample practiced health-promoting behaviors at a moderate level. The participants with differences of study level had different healthpromoting behaviors (p < 0.01). The perceived self-efficacy and perceived benefits held statistically significant positive relationships with health-promoting behaviors (p-value < 0.001); whereas perceived barriers had a negative relationship (p-value < 0.001). The statistically significant predictor of healthpromoting behaviors was perceived self-efficacy, accounting for 79.0% of the variance in healthpromoting behaviors of nursing students (p-value < 0.001). The findings suggest that interventions are needed to enhance practicing health promoting behaviors. Tailored interventions should emphasize increasing perceived self-efficacy and perceived benefits as well as decreasing perceived barriers particularly in the first and third year nursing students.