ABSTRACT

This research was to assess the health knowledge level and healthpromoting behavior of the elderly, and to determine the causal relationsbetween them. The questionnaires 86 items were administered to atotal of 915 elderly participants who consisted of 798community-dwellers of both rural and urban areas and 117 nursinghome residents. The level of health knowledge was much higher in theurban community-dwellers than others, whereas the level ofhealth-promoting behavior was much higher in the nursing homeresidents than the community-dwellers. In addition, the economic statuswas the most powerful variable to explain the health knowledge, whilethe interest in health was the most powerful variable to explain thehealth-promoting behavior. The causal relations between thehealth-promoting behavior and the health knowledge as well as theother socio-demographic variables were sought with a path model. Thefindings were discussed in the context of establishing public healthpolicies and developing health education programs to promote thehealth of the elderly.