El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / Objective: To describe and compare attitudes, lifestyle behaviors, and cardiometabolic risk factors between individuals with and without a relative with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) living in the same household. Methods: A secondary analysis of baseline data from an implementation study in Peru was conducted. The outcomes were attitudes towards changing lifestyle behaviors (e.g. intentions towards losing weight, increasing physical activity, reducing salt consumption, etc), profiles of health lifestyle behaviors (e.g. daily smoking, heavy drinking, and physical activity), and cardiometabolic risk factors (e.g., overweight [body mass index ≥25 kg/m2] and hypertension); whereas the exposure was the presence of at least one relative with known diagnosis of T2DM living in the same household. Multilevel logistic mixed effect regression models were used to estimate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Results: A total of 2298 records, 1134 (49.4%) males, mean age 43.3 (SD: 17.2) years, were analyzed. There was no evidence of a difference in lifestyle-changing attitudes, smoking, alcohol drinking, physical activity levels, and hypertension between individuals with and without relatives with T2DM. Overweight was 63% more common among individuals having a relative with a T2DM in multivariable model (OR = 1.63; 95% CI: 1.03–2.61). Conclusions: Individuals with relatives with T2DM have higher probabilities of being overweight compared to those who did not have relatives with T2DM in the same household. The absence of differences on lifestyle-related attitudes and behaviors highlight the need of involving relatives of patients with T2DM on intervention strategies to further enhance diabetes prevention and management efforts. / National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute / Revisión por pares / Revisión por pares

Not having a child has significant psychosocial effects on women experiencing infertility problems. There is a gap in research on social anxiety, quality of life, and healthy lifestyle behaviors of women during infertility, fertility treatment, and subsequent pregnancy. The purpose of this quantitative comparative study was to investigate the social anxiety, quality of life, and healthy lifestyle behaviors of Turkish women with infertility issues and Turkish women who conceived after infertility treatment, as measured by the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale, the Fertility Quality of Life Questionnaire, and the Healthy Lifestyle Behavior Scale II. The social support and stress buffering theory and the health promotion model provided the framework for the study. Mann-Whitney U tests were used to evaluate 200 women undergoing infertility treatment and women who conceived after infertility treatment on social anxiety, quality of life, and healthy lifestyle behaviors. The results indicated that women undergoing infertility treatment had higher social anxiety and avoidance and higher nutritive healthy lifestyle behaviors than women who conceived after infertility treatment. There was no difference in quality of life between the groups. Findings may promote a better understanding of social anxiety, quality of life, and healthy lifestyle behaviors of women undergoing infertility treatment. This heightened awareness may be used to increase psychosocial well-being of women and may increase the success rate of infertility treatment.

White-Black disparities in disability in the older population are consistently reported in the literature, and are usually ascribed to differences in socio-economic, health, and cognitive status. However, the role of modifiable influences on disability, such as health and lifestyle behaviors or health care utilization on these differences is less clear. This dissertation examines: (1) longitudinal White-Black differences in disability and the potential contributions of distinct health behaviors to these differences; (2) White-Black differences in the effects of health care utilization on trajectories of disability; and (3) whether cognition mediates the effects of health behaviors on disability in Whites and in Blacks, independent of established confounders for these relationships. This dissertation uses longitudinal data from the Asset and Health Dynamics among the Oldest Old study (AHEAD). Trajectories of disability in basic (ADL) and instrumental (IADL) activities of daily living are fit using mixed effects models with time-varying predictors. The mediation effect is tested using a multilevel mediation model. Results indicate that health behaviors close the residual White-Black gap in IADL trajectories but not the residual gap in ADL trajectories. Physical activity participation and maintenance of a normal weight or overweight status resulted in lower ADL and IADL disability levels over time among Whites. None of the health behaviors influenced longitudinal trajectories of disability in Blacks. Short-stay nursing home and home health care utilization was associated with lower ADL and IADL disability levels over time among Blacks. Cognition mediated the effect of physical activity participation on ADL and cognitive IADL in Whites but not in Blacks. That is, physical activity participation had positive effects on ADL and IADL disability both directly, and indirectly through beneficial effects on cognition. Modifiable influences on disability, such as health and lifestyle behaviors and health care utilization should be targeted by intervention programs and regulatory policies in order to narrow or eliminate the White-Black disability disparities. Such interventions may represent effective avenues for achieving the goals of Healthy People 2010.

abstract: Two studies were conducted to test a model to predict healthy lifestyle behaviors, physical activity, and body mass index (BMI) in Taiwanese adolescents by assessing their physical activity and nutrition knowledge, healthy lifestyle beliefs, and perceived difficulty in performing healthy lifestyle behaviors. The study drew upon cognitive behavioral theory to develop this study. The pilot study aimed to test and evaluate psychometric properties of eight Chinese-version scales. The total sample for the pilot study included 186 participants from two middle schools in Taiwan. The mean age was 13.19 for boys and 13.79 for girls. Most scales including Beck Youth Inventory self-concept, Beck Youth Inventory depression, Beck Youth Inventory anxiety, healthy lifestyle beliefs, perceived difficulty, and healthy lifestyle behaviors scales Cronbach alpha were above .90. The Cronbach alpha for the nutrition knowledge and the activity knowledge scale were .86 and .70, respectively. For the primary study, descriptive statistics were used to describe sample characteristics, and path analysis was used to test a model predicting BMI in Taiwanese adolescents. The total sample included 453 participants from two middle schools in Taiwan. The mean age of sample was 13.42 years; 47.5% (n = 215) were males. The mean BMI was 21.83 for boys and 19.84 for girls. The BMI for both boys and girls was within normal range. For path analysis, the chi-square was 426.82 (df = 22, p < .01). The CFI of .62 and the RMSEA of .20 suggested that the model had less than an adequate fit (Hu & Bentler, 1999). For alternative model, dropping the variable of gender from the model, the results indicated that it in fact was an adequate fit to the data (chi-square (23, 453) =33.75, p> .05; CFI= .98; RMSEA= .03). As expected, the results suggested that adolescents who reported higher healthy lifestyle beliefs had more healthy lifestyle behaviors. Furthermore, adolescents who perceived more difficulty in performing healthy lifestyle behaviors engaged in fewer healthy lifestyle behaviors and less physical activity. The findings suggested that adolescents' higher healthy lifestyle beliefs were positively associated with their healthy lifestyle behaviors. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Nursing and Healthcare Innovation 2012

According to the American School Counseling Association (ASCA, 2010), school counselors are charged with meeting the academic, social/emotional and career needs of all students (2010). In addition, school counselors serve as the front line in dealing with trauma and crisis in their schools. Those counselors who understand the importance of their own wellness and practice healthy lifestyle behaviors are better equipped to meet these demands. Unfortunately, not all school counselors are practicing what they advocate for their students relative to promoting wellness in their own lives (O'Halloran & Linton, 2000). This lack of congruence, where school counselors are not modeling the positive lifestyle and self-care behaviors they expect of their students, may take a toll on counselors’ emotional health. Research has been conducted exploring counselor wellness through the lens of compassion fatigue and burnout, but there has been limited research from a strength-based perspective specifically with school counselors. This study aims to add to the literature and explore the experiences of individual school counselors who can prioritize and integrate wellness principles and self-compassion behaviors and have been able to persist in the profession for 10 years or more. Seven school counselors participated in semi-structured interviews that explored their experiences regarding wellness behaviors and the practice of self-compassion. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. Results indicated school counselors do integrate self-compassion and positive wellness behaviors. All participants shared several wellness practices such as, scheduling and modeling self-care, seeking out opportunities to increase their knowledge in the area of wellness as well as the practice of self-compassionate behavior.

Lifestyle behaviors have been associated with better cognitive status and reduced risk of dementia. However, only individual or combinations of a few lifestyle behaviors have been studied. The present study examines the association between lifestyle behaviors and cognitive status in older adults including six lifestyle behaviors: cognitive activities, social activities, physical activities, religious involvement, diet, and alcohol consumption. The study population is a sample of 1,216 community-dwelling men and women age 65 years and older from Cache County, Utah. The present study is conducted using the extant data from the Cache County Study on Memory Health and Aging (CCSMHA), a prospective longitudinal study, which has been ongoing since 1995 with its focus on Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia. Data related to lifestyle behaviors, cognitive status, and dementia diagnosis in the third study wave were analyzed for the purpose of the present study. Three lifestyle patterns were identified based on the six lifestyle behaviors: the least engaged, the moderately engaged secular, and the most engaged religious. The most engaged religious pattern represented a healthy lifestyle on all lifestyle domains with exception to almost no use of alcohol. The moderately engaged secular pattern represented a moderately healthy lifestyle on all domains with least engagement in religious behavior. The least engaged pattern showed an unhealthy lifestyle on all domains with moderate engagement in religious behavior. The results showed that participants in the least engaged had a lower cognitive status and higher rate of being diagnosed with cognitive impairment or dementia compared to those with other two lifestyle patterns. The findings suggest that engaging in healthy lifestyle behaviors in later life might protect from or delay loss of cognitive ability and dementia risk.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.