Knowledge Attitude and Health Behaviors of the Elderly in Phuket Province

Abstract

This research aimed 1) to study knowledge, attitude, and health behavior of the elderly, 2) to examine the relationship among knowledge, attitude, and health behavior of the elderly in Phuket province. Data were collected from 400 elderlies who were members of the Phuket elderly clubs by using a questionnaire. The sample was selected with a multi-stage random sampling method. The data were analyzed to obtain frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, correlation analysis and multiple regression.

The results showed that most of the elderly had knowledge, attitude and health behavior at a good level. The attitude towards health behaviors of the elderlies had a positive correlate with health behavior with statistical significance at .01 level. The multiple regression analysis showed that 8 variables of attitude towards health behavior influenced health behavior which were 1) stress causes mood swings, 2) exercise for more than 30 minutes a day makes the body healthy, 3)  30 minutes a day is the basic exercise duration, 4) dietary fiber from vegetables and fruits provides digestion health benefits, 5) alcoholic substances have a sedative effect, harmful to health 6) eating 5 food groups in 1 day, 7) regular exercise causes the body to relax, and 8) stress relief can be done by meditation.

Keywords: elderly, health behavior, health behaviors of the elderly