Centre for Policy on Ageing



Health beliefs about osteoporosis and osteoporosis screening in older women and men
Author(s)	Smita Nayak, Mark S Roberts, Chung-Chou H Chang
Journal title	Health Education Journal, vol 69, no 3, September 2010
Pages	pp 267-276
Source	http://www.sagepublications.com doi: 10.1177/0017896910364570
Annotation	Surveys were mailed to 1,830 women and men aged 60 years and older in Western Pennsylvania, USA. The survey assessed socio-demographic characteristics, osteoporosis and general health-related characteristics, and beliefs about osteoporosis severity, susceptibility, screening self-efficacy, and screening response efficacy. Analyses included Wilcoxon rank-sum tests to compare belief dimension scores, and multivariable ordinal logistic regression analyses to evaluate association between osteoporosis beliefs and potential explanatory variables. Surveys were completed by 1,268 individuals (69.3 per cent). Mean age of respondents was 73.3 years, and most were female (58.7 per cent). Individuals demonstrated greatest belief in the severity of osteoporosis and least belief in personal susceptibility. In conclusion, older adults demonstrate several beliefs that may be barriers to osteoporosis screening, including low belief in susceptibility to osteoporosis. These beliefs should be targeted with patient education to improve screening rates. (KJ).
Accession Number	CPA-101111225 A
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing

...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.