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. 2013 May 10;8(5):e63920.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0063920. Print 2013.

Health-related behavior, profile of health locus of control and acceptance of illness in patients suffering from chronic somatic diseases

Konrad Janowski  1 , Donata Kurpas, Joanna Kusz, Bozena Mroczek, Tomasz Jedynak
Affiliations

Health-related behavior, profile of health locus of control and acceptance of illness in patients suffering from chronic somatic diseases

Konrad Janowski et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to determine health-related behaviors, profile of health locus of control (HLC), and to assess the relationships between these constructs among patients suffering from chronic somatic diseases.

Material and methods: Three-hundred adult patients suffering from various chronic diseases participated in the study. The patients' mean age was 54.6 years (SD = 17.57).

Results: No statistically significant differences were found between the different clinical groups in health-related behavior, acceptance of illness, internal HLC or chance HLC. Patients with neurologic conditions showed slightly lower powerful others HLC than did some other clinical groups. Health-related behavior was significantly positively related to all three categories of HLC, with most prominent associations observed with powerful others HLC. Only one type of health-related behavior--preventive behavior--correlated significantly and negatively with acceptance of illness. Differences in the frequency of health-related behavior were also found due to gender (women showing more healthy nutritional habits than men), age (older subjects showing more frequent health-promoting behavior), education (higher education was associated with less frequent health-promoting behavior) and marital status (widowed subjects reporting more frequent health-promoting behavior).

Conclusions: Health-related behavior in patients with chronic diseases seems to be unrelated to a specific diagnosis; however it shows associations with both internal and external HLC. Sociodemographic factors are also crucial factors determining frequency of health-related behavior in such patients.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

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