Institute of Psychological Sciences, University of Leeds, UK.
Br J Health Psychol. 2010 May;15(Pt 2):347-66. doi: 10.1348/135910709X466487. Epub 2009 Jul 28.
The classification of health behaviours may provide a useful framework for understanding their characteristics and therefore the ways in which they are similar and different. However, to date, little research has attempted to identify these characteristics and explore the dimensions along which behaviours differ. This paper uses an inductive approach to explore this issue.
In Study 1, 25 repertory grid interviews and 3 focus groups encompassing lay public and health professionals identified 25 ways of describing health behaviours. These were refined into 11 key characteristics. In Study 2, 180 members of the general public rated 20 health behaviours on each of these characteristics.
Principal components analysis indicated behaviours were perceived along three key dimensions: 'easy immediate pay-offs' versus 'effortful long-term pay-offs'; 'private unproblematic' versus 'public and problematic'; and 'important routines' versus 'unimportant one-offs'. Risk behaviours were clearly differentiated being perceived as 'easy immediate pay-offs' and 'public-problematic'. In contrast with other approach behaviours such as diet or self-examination, physical activity behaviours were perceived as 'effortful long-term pay-offs'.
This research provides an useful starting point in the development of a framework that allows us to better understand differences and similarities between health behaviours. These dimensions may be important to consider when researchers set out to predict or change behaviour.
健康行为的分类可以为理解其特征提供一个有用的框架，从而了解它们的相似之处和不同之处。然而，迄今为止，很少有研究试图确定这些特征，并探讨行为之间存在差异的维度。本文采用归纳法来探讨这个问题。
在研究 1 中，25 次内涵格访谈和 3 次焦点小组包括了普通公众和卫生专业人员，确定了 25 种描述健康行为的方式。这些方式被细化为 11 个关键特征。在研究 2 中，180 名普通公众对这 11 个特征中的每个特征对 20 种健康行为进行了评分。
主成分分析表明，行为是沿着三个关键维度来感知的：“即时的容易回报”与“长期的努力回报”；“私人的无问题”与“公共的有问题”；以及“重要的常规”与“不重要的一次性”。风险行为被明确区分，被认为是“即时的容易回报”和“公共有问题”。与其他接近行为（如饮食或自我检查）不同，体育活动行为被认为是“长期努力回报”。
这项研究为开发一个框架提供了一个有用的起点，使我们能够更好地理解健康行为之间的差异和相似之处。这些维度在研究人员预测或改变行为时可能很重要。
