Osteoporosis is a serious public health issue, which is growing in significance because of our aging population. It is estimated that one in three New Zealand women over the age of 50 years will suffer from an osteoporotic-related fracture. The risk of osteoporosis among South Asian women living in New Zealand is unknown. However, this is an important and growing population group. The purpose of this study was to determine osteoporosis knowledge, health beliefs and dietary calcium intake in a sample of South Asian women living in Auckland, New Zealand. Relationships between these variables and the predictors of dietary calcium intake were examined. A sample of 102 South Asian women (mean age of 41.6 years) completed an online questionnaire to assess osteoporosis knowledge and health beliefs using the validated Osteoporosis Knowledge Test (OKT) and Osteoporosis Health Belief Scale (OHBS), respectively. A four day food diary was used to assess dietary calcium and energy intake. In general, these South Asian women were lacking in osteoporosis knowledge, they did not perceive themselves to be susceptible to osteoporosis and did not consider osteoporosis to be a serious disease. They perceived many benefits of consuming a high calcium diet for the prevention of osteoporosis and did not identify many barriers to dietary calcium intake. In addition, these South Asian women were highly health motivated. Perceived barriers to dietary calcium intake (R=-0.32; P<0.01) and health motivation (R=0.30; P<0.01) were significantly correlated to dietary calcium intake. Health motivation, perceived barriers to dietary calcium intake and the use of a dietary supplement were significant predictors of dietary calcium intake and together explained 27% of the variance. These findings suggest that osteoporosis prevention interventions may need to increase awareness, overcome perceived barriers to dietary calcium intake as well as maintain health motivation among these South Asian women to achieve sufficient dietary calcium intake.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/232617 |
| Date | January 2008 |
| Creators | Tsai, Midi |
| Publisher | Massey University |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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