School of Nursing, Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute, Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
J Clin Nurs. 2021 Aug;30(15-16):2279-2286. doi: 10.1111/jocn.15711. Epub 2021 Apr 25.
The aim of this paper is to explore the perceptions, attitudes and beliefs of middle-aged Australians around their health, lifestyle risks and chronic disease.
Health promotion and risk reduction are important to stem the rising prevalence of chronic disease. While there has been much emphasis on supporting these strategies in older Australians, there has been less attention on those in middle age. However, as this group age, their health will inevitably be impacted by lifestyle risk.
A qualitative descriptive study using semi-structured interviews. Reporting was guided by the COREQ checklist.
Thirty-four participants aged 40-65 years were recruited across South Eastern New South Wales, Australia, using convenience sampling. Semi-structured interviews were conducted by four registered nurses with qualitative research experience. Verbatim transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis.
Sixteen women and 18 men participated in the interviews. Four themes emerged, namely: adopting healthy lifestyles; denial; an impetus for change; and sustaining change. Perceptions about what constituted good health varied, with male participants being more ambivalent about their health. Impetus for change was mostly influenced by family history, awareness of health risks and identification of risks by health professionals. Participants found sustaining change challenging, particularly with regard to smoking cessation and dietary modifications.
Understanding the perceptions of health of middle-aged people is important and enables health professionals to engage in early behavioural change conversations that consider perceived barriers to lifestyle modification. Findings from this study emphasise the importance of discussions about lifestyle risk to reduce the future burden of chronic disease.
These findings illustrate the importance of understanding perceptions of health to guide primary health care nurses to develop person-centred health promotion and chronic disease prevention strategies in this age group.
本文旨在探讨中年澳大利亚人对健康、生活方式风险和慢性病的看法、态度和信念。
促进健康和减少风险对于遏制慢性病的高发至关重要。虽然人们非常重视支持老年人采取这些策略，但对中年人的关注较少。然而，随着这一年龄段的人年龄的增长，他们的健康将不可避免地受到生活方式风险的影响。
采用半结构式访谈的定性描述性研究。报告遵循 COREQ 清单。
在澳大利亚新南威尔士州东南部，使用便利抽样法招募了 34 名 40-65 岁的参与者。由具有定性研究经验的四名注册护士进行半结构式访谈。使用主题分析对逐字记录进行分析。
16 名女性和 18 名男性参加了访谈。出现了四个主题，即：采用健康的生活方式；否认；改变的动力；以及维持改变。对健康的良好状态的看法因人而异，男性参与者对自己的健康更加犹豫不决。改变的动力主要受到家族史、对健康风险的认识以及健康专业人员对风险的识别的影响。参与者发现维持改变具有挑战性，尤其是在戒烟和饮食改变方面。
了解中年人对健康的看法很重要，这使卫生专业人员能够进行早期的行为改变对话，考虑到生活方式改变的障碍。这项研究的结果强调了讨论生活方式风险的重要性，以减轻未来慢性病的负担。
这些发现说明了理解健康观念对于指导初级保健护士在这一年龄组制定以患者为中心的健康促进和慢性病预防策略的重要性。
