Wellness Behaviors as an Indicator of Health-Related Quality of Life Author(s): Michelle L. Melia-Gordon, Fuschia M. Sirois, Timothy A.

Pychyl Source: Quality of Life Research, Vol. 10, No. 3, Abstracts: 8th Annual Conference of the International Society for Quality of Life Research (ISOQOL) (May, 2001), p. 242 Published by: Springer Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4036715 . Accessed: 23/09/2011 05:47
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196/ EFFECTS OF ALTERNATIVE ON MEDICINE THE QUALITY OF LIFEOF RESIDENTSIN A JAPANESE LARGEPOPULATION SURVEY Kauzo Uebaba, International Research Center for Traditional Medicine, Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture, Japan; Feng-Hao Xu, Akira Nagata, International Research Center for Traditional Medicine, Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture, Japan; HidekiOrigasa, Toshihisa Morioka,Biostatistics, Toyama Medical&PharmaceuticalUniversity, Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture, Japan There has been an increasing interest in complimentary and alternative medicine(CAM)in general population. It is also expected that CAMmay enhance the QOLof people. We have already known the for resultof WHOQOL Japanese populationas Nakane&Tazaki's report (Soc Med.1999; 9:123-130). Our region is well knownto have a high prevalence of CAMusers. The purpose of this studywas to clarify the effects of CAM by comparing the QOL in our region with the Nakane &Tazaki's reportthat would be considered as the Japanese standardof WHOQOL data. We mailed a WHOQOL26 questionnaire with supplemental sheets about utilizationof CAM,to all of the residents of 60 and 61 years old (N=1568) in our region from the Basic resident registers. We compared QOL of our survey with Nakane & Tazaki's report by the age-adjusted method. We also surveyed the same content to current CAMusers (N=248) of the same age(58 to 62 years old) who are attending our centers for Traditional Medicine. The QOL of these CAM users was compared with the data of the residents of the same age as above. A total of 928 residents (response rate 59.3%; 428 male, 500 female) responded to our WHOQOL questionnaire.We obtained 129 answers fromthe current CAMusers (response rate 52.0%;29 male, 100 female). Mean of the QOLscore in 928 residents was 3.38 (male; 3.39, female; 3.37), and in CAMusers was 3.49 (29 male; 3.55, 100 female; 3.47), which values were higher than the previous reportin Japanese populationof 580 people of 50 to 79 years old (267 male; 3.30, 313 female; 3.36). There was only 3 to 4 % difference in each of the four domains between a general population and CAM users; however, the QOL of CAM users was consistently higher than residents. We found that Qualityof life could be enhanced by CAMin older people. 1971 MEASURING FATIGUEIN THE GENERALPOPULATION Anners Lerdal,Facultyof Health, BuskerudCollege, Drammen,Norway; Torbj0rnMoum, Faculty of Medicine, Universityof Oslo, Oslo, Norway; Astrid K. Wahl, Faculty of Health, Buskerud College, Drammen, Norway;Tone Rustoen, Facultyof Nursing, Oslo University College, Oslo, Norway;0istein Knudsen Jr., Facultyof Health, Buskerud College, Drammen, Norway; Berit R. Hanestad, Department of Public Healthand PrimaryHealth Care, University Bergen, of Bergen, Norway Fatigue, or the feeling of lack of energy, is reportedto be a common complaintin the general population.When people become acutely ill or experience chronic illness, fatigue is often one of theirsymptoms. There are several instrumentsdesigned to measure fatigue. One of the instrumentsof self-reportedfatigue witchhas been used in different patient populations in differentcountries, are the 9 item Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) developed by Kruppet al. In addition to the FSS, three specific items measuring sleep disturbance were used. These items had been developed separately and used earlier in a populationstudy of individualswith MultipleSclerosis. To interpret responses from this study, data from the general population was needed for comparison. A study of fatigue in the Norwegianpopulationwas undertakenusing the FSS. Fourthousand randomly assigned people were sent the questionnaire by mail. Eighteen hundredand sixty seven responded after one reminder. Fiftytwo% of the sample was men and the mean age was 45 years (SD 15.9). Sixtytwo% had one or two years at upper secondary school or less. Twenty % had polytechnic or universityless than 4 years, and 17% reportedmore than 4 years in polytechnicor university.Seventeen % of the sample lived alone, and 28 % reportedto suffer from chronic diseases. The study was undertaken the autumn of 2000. Fatigue correlated with sleep disturbance (r = 0.40, p<0.001), self reportedchronic illness (r = -0.35, p<0.001) and level of education (r = -0.20, p<0.001). Fatigue showed a slight correlationto gender and age.

FARMWORKERSIN 198/ THE HEALTHSTATUS OF MIGRANT SEGMENTOF OUR BUT INTEGRAL GEORGIA- AN INVISIBLE POPULATION Tom Himelick,Emory Physician Assistant Program, Alison Lauber, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA; Teresa Zyczynski, Health Economics and Outcomes Research, AstraZeneca LP,Wayne, PA;CherylSilberman,Elizabeth Adams, Health Economics and Outcomes Research, AstraZeneca LP, Wilmington,DE Migrantfarm workers and their families represent one of the most vulnerable, yet economically essential, populations in the United States. Theirfrequent relocationacross state lines, arduous manual labor, culturalbarriers, unstable politicaland economic status, and limitedaccess to health care predispose this populationto a greater riskforwork-relatedinjuriesand of developing chronicand communicable diseases. A numberof nationaland local programs have been implemented to assist communities in providing care to this of underserved population. Because of the unpredictability both the crop season and the migrantfarm worker pool, communities have difficultyin planning for the impact these individualshave on local resources. Thus, this study will collect health care utilization,HRQL, health status and other lifestyle factors, which willassist in short and long term programimplementation.A medical and health status asfarmworkersworkinginsouth500 sessment of approximately migrant ern Georgia will be implemented in June 2001. Volunteers from the EmoryPhysician Assistant Program, EmorySchool of Medicine Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and AstraZeneca will be working collaborativelywith communityvolunteers (local growers, churches, Spanish interpreters,local hospital and health department)at a farm clinic providingcare and assessing the health status of the migrant farm workers. The SF-12 willbe administered,by a Spanish translator as necessary, to the populationand linked to other health data collected on site, througha programdeveloped by Assist Technologies. Recommendations from the assessment will be used in further planningto assure adequate care in the short and long term for this vulnerable patient population. OF AS 199/ WELLNESS BEHAVIORS AN INDICATOR HEALTHOF QUALITY LIFE RELATED Michelle L. Melia-Gordon,Fuschia M. Sirois, TimothyA. Pychyl,Psychology, Carleton University,Ottawa,ON, Canada and Wellness behaviorsreflectactiontaken to maintain enhance one's health and well-being. However, research suggests that these behaviors decrease when qualityof life is compromised. This study exof plored the utility weliness behaviors as a markerfor health-related qualityof life in first-yearuniversitystudents. A sample of 248 students (169 females, 79 males; age 19.6, +/- 1.4, range 17 - 25) were selected froma largersample (n = 415) and screened for absence of chronic health conditions. They completed self-reportquestionnaires dimensions - financialstress on health-relatedqualityof life (HRQOL) (FINS),general social stress (GSS), interpersonalstress (IPS), satisfaction with academic performance (ACSAT),vitality,and common health problems. Students also completed the Wellness Behaviors Checklist (WBC), a 10-item inventorypreviouslydeveloped and validated to assess the frequency of preventive health behaviors (e.g., sleep, diet and exercise habits). Linearregression analyses explored dimensions and the practiceof wellness associations between HRQOL behaviors. All variables were forced into the model equation in the firstanalysis. Althoughthe overall model was significant(R-square = .16, p < .000), only vitality(Beta = .19), common health problems pre(Beta = -.24), and ACSAT(Beta = .12) were significantindividual dictors of WBC scores. FINS and IPS approached significance. A stepwise multipleregression assessed the relative strengths of the WBC predictors. Only common health problems (R-square = .08), and then vitality(R-square = .12) entered as significantpredictors(p <.001). The relationships found in the current study may be generalisable to other QOL relevant populations, as students often experience significant stress. Results support the utilityof wellness behaviors as an overall markerfor components of HRQOL,particularlythe health-related dimensions. Suggestions for the use of this behavioral index to identifyand track importantchanges in HRQOL are discussed.