Determinant factors of the difference between self-reported weight and measured weight among Japanese.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the difference between self-reported and measured weight values in Japanese men and women and to determine the underlying determinants of the differences between self-reported and measured values. METHODS: The data were collected from 363 general Japanese individuals aged 16-88 years living in Kumamoto prefecture. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire designed for this study with self-reported weight and height values. Measured weight and height were measured immediately after questionnaire completion. Paired t-tests identified differences between self-reported and measured values by sex. Multiple-stepwise regression analysis examined the independent variables' effects on the differences between self-reported and measured weights. RESULTS: Significant differences were found between self-reported and measured values for both sexes (p < 0.001). There was a significant negative relationship between the difference in an individual's self-reported and measured weight in each sex, with higher measured weight individuals more likely to underestimate their weight. Multiple-stepwise regression analysis models explained 12.1 % (p < 0.01), 11.3 % (p < 0.01), and 5.6 % (p < 0.01) of the variance in all participants, men, and women, respectively. Significant effects were found for age, weight measurement frequency, and measured weight in total participants, weight measurement frequency, and measured weight for men, and age for women. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, the mean absolute value of the weight and height variances proved the unreliability of self-reported weight and height values. This study's findings suggest self-reported weight inaccuracy especially for obese populations. This should be adjusted when using it in epidemiological studies and healthcare planning.

Community factors to promote parents' quality of child-nurturing life.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to clarify the role of community factors in parents' quality of child-nurturing life (QCNL). METHODS: We developed a questionnaire to evaluate the degree of QCNL and determine the structural factors related to QCNL as community factors related to parents' QCNL derived from focus group interviews and the Delphi technique. The questionnaire also included the battery of the self-rating depression scale and Tsumori-Inage Infant's Developmental Test. Using the questionnaire, we then conducted a quantitative survey of parents whose children attended nursery schools in Kumamoto Prefecture. Factor analysis, calculation of the mean score and/or ratio to each item, Pearson's correlation coefficient, t test, multiple regression analysis, and covariance structure analysis were performed. RESULTS: The questionnaire we developed consisted of seven items with 75 elements, involving ten elements as community factors. Subjects included 699 parents (mean age 33.6 ± 5.4 years) and 965 children (age range 0-6 years). Factor analysis revealed that community factors consisted of five factors, such as "lifestyle rooted in the ground," "balance of housekeeping and work," "community network," "amenity," and "regeneration of life". These factors may be dominant in a rural area. Finally, we developed a structural model with "community factors," QCNL, QOL, and "child growth" by covariance structural analysis. The analysis revealed that community factors had a positive relation to parents' QCNL (r = 0.81, p < 0.001) and that parental SDS score had a negative relation to parents' QCNL (r = -0.59, p < 0.001). The analysis did show that community factors were positively related to the sound growth of children. CONCLUSION: The covariance structure analysis revealed that community factors were associated with parents' QCNL, SDS, and "child growth."

Relationship between lifestyle and lifestyle-related factors in a rural-urban population of Japan.

OBJECTIVE: To clarify the actual state of residents' lifestyle in a mixed rural-urban area in Japan, and to investigate the relationship between residents' lifestyle and lifestyle-related factors. METHODS: The Japanese version of Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II), lifestyle-related factors developed through group work with residents of Town A, and demographic variables were used to evaluate 1176 community residents' lifestyles and associated factors. RESULTS: Factor analysis revealed that there were 4 factors related to healthy lifestyle. Nonparametric analysis revealed that female and elderly groups showed higher overall HPLP-II score than male and young groups. A significant correlation coefficient was seen between scores of overall HPLP-II and lifestyle-related factors (r = 0.611, p < 0.001). Multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated that HPLP-II was significantly associated with each lifestyle-related factor, showing a similar order in both gender and age groups. Finally, covariance structure analysis demonstrated that the score of health cognition and regional factors increased the score of HPLP-II, which then increased the score of self-rated health. CONCLUSIONS: The present research clarified the actual state of residents' lifestyles by age and gender in a mixed rural-urban area in Japan, demonstrating a vector model from health cognition and regional factors to self-rated health, via residents' lifestyle.

Assessment of health-promoting lifestyle profile in Japanese university students.

OBJECTIVES: This descriptive study of 314 students was conducted to determine whether there were any relationships of their demographic variables with a health-promoting lifestyle profile. METHODS: The Japanese version of the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II) questionnaire was used to investigate students' lifestyles. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple comparison procedures using the Scheffe test were conducted to identify significant differences among university year (first, second, etc.) groups. The t-test independent participants was utilized to compare the HPLP-II scores according to gender and living with family (yes/no). Multiple regression analysis was used to analyze the effects of various demographics on the overall HPLP-II score and the six health-promoting lifestyle subscales. RESULTS: The whole cohort of participants had an overall HPLP-II mean score of 2.50 (SD = 0.29), with the highest mean score being for interpersonal relations (3.05 ± 0.44), and the lowest mean score being for health responsibility (2.01 ± 0.53). The overall HPLP-II score of the students during the first university year was 2.59 (SD = 0.29), and this score progressively declined in their second year (2.49 ± 0.29), third year (2.47 ± 0.28), and fourth year (2.45 ± 0.30). Female students practiced significantly better health responsibility, interpersonal relations, and nutrition than males, and male students practiced significantly better physical activity than females. The students who were living with family had significantly higher nutrition scores than those not living with family. CONCLUSIONS: These significant findings linking the HPLP-II, university year level, and living with family (yes/no) in university students will enable healthcare providers to develop interventions to assist students in improving their health lifestyles in the university environment and will help in devising suitable education programs.

A comparative study of health-promoting lifestyles in agricultural and non-agricultural workers in Japan.

OBJECTIVES: To clarify the difference in health-promoting lifestyles between agricultural and non-agricultural workers in Japan, a cross-sectional study was conducted on 627 residents living in a town with a mixed rural-urban population. METHODS: The subjects were divided into 8 groups by job (agricultural and non-agricultural), age (young and old), and gender (male and female). To evaluate the subjects' lifestyles, the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II) was applied. The Bartlett test and the Kendall rank test were performed for statistical analysis. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in the overall score of the HPLP-II between the two job groups. However, for the HPLP-II subscales, a significantly higher score for "spiritual growth" and a significantly lower score for "physical activity" were seen in the agricultural group than in the non-agricultural group. In general, the old and female groups showed higher scores than the corresponding groups, regardless of job type. CONCLUSIONS: It was determined that the major countermeasures to maintain a healthy lifestyle in agricultural workers should be associated with how to introduce daily activities that maintain and enhance "spiritual growth" and improve "physical activity".

Applying the social cognitive perspective to volunteer intention in China: the mediating roles of self-efficacy and motivation.

When predicting volunteer intention, much attention is paid to the volunteer organization environment (VOE). Given that self-efficacy and motivation have emerged as important predictors of volunteer intention, we adopted a combination of ideas of Bandura's social cognitive theory and Ajzen's theory of planned behavior integrating VOE, self-efficacy and motivation to examine their effects on volunteer intention and to determine whether self-efficacy and motivation mediate the relationship between VOE and volunteer intention. The subjects of this study consisted of 198 community health volunteers in Shanghai city, China. Exploratory factor analysis was performed to identify the factor structure using standard principal component analysis. Six new factors were revealed, including two VOE factors, relation with organization and support from government; two motivation factors, personal attitude and social recognition; self-efficacy and volunteer intention. The results of a hierarchical regression analysis indicated that relation with organization accounted for 14.8% of the variance in volunteer intention, and support from government failed to add significantly to variance in volunteer intention; self-efficacy and personal attitude motivation partially mediated the effects of relation with organization on volunteer intention; social recognition motivation did not mediate the relationship between relation with organization and volunteer intention; and relation with organization, self-efficacy and personal attitude motivation accounted for 33.7% of the variance in volunteer intention. These results provide support for self-efficacy and personal attitude motivation as mediators and provide preliminary insight into the potential mechanisms for predicting volunteer intention and improving volunteering by integrating VOE, self-efficacy and motivation factors.

Quality of life associated with perceived stigma and discrimination among the floating population in Shanghai, China: a qualitative study.

The floating population refers to the large and increasing number of migrants without local household registration status and has become a new demographic phenomenon in China. Most of these migrants move from the rural areas of the central and western parts of China to the eastern and coastal metropolitan areas in pursuit of a better life. The floating population of China was composed of 121 million people in 2000, and this number was expected to increase to 300 million by 2010. Quality of life (QOL) studies of the floating population could provide a critical starting point for recognizing the potential of regions, cities and local communities to improve QOL. This study explored the construct of QOL of the floating population in Shanghai, China. We conducted eight focus groups with 58 members of the floating population (24 males and 34 females) and then performed a qualitative thematic analysis of the interviews. The following five QOL domains were identified from the analysis: personal development, jobs and career, family life, social relationships and social security. The results indicated that stigma and discrimination permeate these life domains and influence the framing of life expectations. Proposals were made for reducing stigma and discrimination against the floating population to improve the QOL of this population.

Description of environmental determinants of quality of life in children with intellectual disability in Japan using the Delphi technique.

OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to define the framework of an environment conducive to the well-being of children with intellectually disability (CID). METHODS: A questionnaire composed of 31 items was developed through literature review. Then a 2-round Delphi survey was conducted with 3 different panels: health professionals (HPs), parents of CID, and teachers. The participants were asked to rate each item, select and rank the 10 most important items, and suggest additional ones. RESULTS: A total of 71 participants responded to the first round: 24 HPs, 22 parents, and 25 teachers. In the second round the overall response rate was 83%. At the end of the exercise, 12 items reached global consensus, i.e., in all groups. Only 5 items were ranked as most important by all groups: attitudes of family members at home; attitudes of HPs and teachers; support from family members at home; support at school (classmates and teachers); and government policies. Nevertheless, the panelists' views diverged on the remaining items. Several additional elements were suggested. CONCLUSIONS: The views of HPs, teachers, and parents are complementary for the improvement of quality of life (QOL) of CID. The present findings will be used as a basis for the development of an instrument to assess the living environment of CID.

[Analysis of relationship between birth weight by gestational age and decreasing birth weight in Kumamoto Prefecture, 1979-1997].

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to investigate possible factors associated with the recent decrease in birth weight in Kumamoto Prefecture between 1979 and 1997. METHODS: Vital statistics on birth between 1979 and 1997 were obtained from the records of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Japan, on the basis of which, infants were divided into low-birth weight (LBW: <2500 g) group and the normal-birth-weight (> or =2500 g) group, and the proportions of birth and birth weights by gestational age (from 22 to 42 weeks) of both groups between 1979 and 1997 were compared. RESULTS: For the normal-birth-weight group, the peaks of the proportions of birth and birth weights by gestational age in 1997 shifted to early gestation, compared with the peaks in 1979. The birth weight by gestational age in 1997 decreased, compared with that in 1979 among the normal-birth-weight group, in particular, the birth weight from 37 to 40 gestational ages decreased significantly, and the mean birth weight showed a linear relationship with these gestational ages as observed in normal fetal development. However, in the LBW group, the mean birth weight showed a small increase after 1992 and a large increase in birth weight by gestational age in the last month of pregnancy in 1997. CONCLUSIONS: The changes in the proportions of birth and birth weights by gestational age among the normal-birth-weight group were found to be the important factors the recent decrease in birth weight. These factors might be associated with advances in medical technology and the fact that young women diet in order to slim.