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The Diabetes Educator

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Health Promotion Practice
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Perceptions of Healthy Behaviors Versus Health Practices

Ray M. Merrill, PhD, MPH

Department of Health Science, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT

Michael Friedrichs, MS

Bureau of Health Promotion, Utah Department of Health in Salt Lake City, UT

LaDene Larsen, RN, BSN

Utah Department of Health, Salt Lake City, UT

This study compares health behaviors mentioned as important for staying healthy with actual health practices among 717 men and women in Utah. Respondents frequently cited exercise and a healthy diet as important, but a much smaller percentage practiced these behaviors. Furthermore, although those identifying these behaviors as important were significantly more likely to practice them, the percentages were low. Relatively few respondents identified maintaining ideal body weight and seeing a doctor as important for staying healthy, but the actual practice of those behaviors was high. In some cases, positive relations between behaviors or outcomes identified as important compared with actual practice in younger people did not occur in older people. In other cases, positive relations were observed in one gender but not in the other. Hence, perceived ways for people to stay healthy did not necessarily correspond with actual behaviors and were influenced by factors such as age and gender.

Health Promotion Practice, Vol. 3, No. 4, 497-500 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/152483902236719
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