Social isolation and health-promoting behaviors among older adults living with different health statuses: A cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES

To describe the characteristics and relationships of social isolation and health promoting behaviors of Chinese older adults with different health statuses.

METHODS

Totally 485 older adults were recruited. They were divided into three groups based on their health status: healthy group ( = 72), group with one disease ( = 183) and group with multimorbidity ( = 230). Lubben Social Network Scale-6 and Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II were used to measure their social isolation and health-promoting behaviors, respectively.

RESULTS

Among the aged with one disease or multimorbidity, 30.6% (56/183) and 31.7% (73/230) were socially isolated, respectively, based on the score of the Lubben Social Network Scale-6. The three groups differed significantly in health-promoting behaviors and scores on several subscales. The group with multimorbidity exhibited more social isolation and fewer health-promoting behaviors than other groups. Social isolation was among the factors adversely affecting health-promoting behaviors in older adults.

CONCLUSIONS

Health care providers should help older adults with multimorbidity preserve the remaining abilities to improve health-promoting behaviors. Meanwhile, it is important to support healthy older adults to increase self-responsibility to achieve healthy aging.