The Gerontologist, Vol 39, Issue 4 473-482, Copyright © 1999 by The Gerontological Society of America

ARTICLES

Stages of change across ten health risk behaviors for older adults

CR Nigg, PM Burbank, C Padula, R Dufresne, JS Rossi, WF Velicer, RG Laforge and JO Prochaska
Cancer Prevention Research Center, University of Rhode Island, Kingston 02881, USA. cnigg@etal.uri.edu

Owing to the recent success of the Transtheoretical Model of behavior change and the possible relationships between health behaviors, this study investigated the stage distribution of 10 healthy behaviors (seatbelt use, avoidance of high fat food, eating a high-fiber diet, attempting to lose weight, exercising regularly, avoiding sun exposure, sunscreen use, attempting to reduce stress, stopping smoking, and conducting cancer self-exams) and their interrelationships in a representative sample of health maintenance organization (HMO) members. The majority of older adults were found to be in either precontemplation or maintenance, illustrating the need to target interventions to precontemplation. Most older individuals were in precontemplation for losing weight and/ or sunscreen use and exercise, making these behaviors a priority for intervention research. Possible gateway behaviors to general health could be identified; however, these results are preliminary and require longitudinal follow-up.

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