Examination of a nationwide cohort of individuals with high health literacy in terms of their health-related lifestyles and attainment of the goals of the “National Health Promotion in the 21st Century” Program

Abstract Background: In Japan, where the population is aging particularly rapidly, “healthy aging” is being advocated as a means of addressing the potential societal burdens caused by older adults’ need for nursing care and the high associated health-care costs. To improve healthy aging among the population, the Japanese government has launched the “National Health Promotion in the 21st Century” (HJ21), which contains goals concerning areas such as lifestyle behavior and use of preventive medicine. Low health literacy is associated with many health-related issues; however, whether individuals with high health literacy are meeting the HJ21 goals has not yet been examined. This study aims to determine whether a cohort with high health literacy are meeting such goals, and to compare the cohort’s performance with the national average. Methods: This is a cross-sectional survey study. Study participants, sourced from all prefectures in Japan, were professional specialists in health management certified by the Japanese Association of Preventive Medicine for Adult Disease. We measured data concerning the cohort’s demographic information, health perception, lifestyle (including physical activity) and use of preventive medicine. Results: The cohort showed many characteristics of high health literacy. The cohort had an overall healthy lifestyle and met most of the HJ21 goals; in particular, a high proportion underwent health-maintenance exams and cancer screenings. Conclusions: The high health literacy cohort showed a healthy lifestyle. Compared to the national average, a higher proportion of the cohort met the HJ21 goals and received preventive medicine.

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Do Japan’s Health Care Personnel Meet the Personal Health Goals of the “National Health Promotion Program”?

Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1177/10105395211008749 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 101053952110087

Author(s):

Nobutaka Hirooka ◽

Takeshi Sano ◽

Reiko Yasumura ◽

Yuji Maeyama ◽

Nakamoto Hidetomo

Keyword(s):

Health Care ◽

Health Promotion ◽

Health Literacy ◽

National Health ◽

Preventive Medicine ◽

Health Management ◽

Healthy Lifestyle ◽

Health Promotion Program ◽

Study Participants ◽

High Health Literacy

To improve health among the population and reduce the societal burden of care and health-related costs in a rapidly aging environment, the Japanese government launched the “National Health Promotion Program in the 21st Century” (HJ21), which contains goals concerning areas such as lifestyle behavior and the use of preventive medicine. While health care personnel are responsible for guiding others’ health choices, they may not maintain healthy lifestyles themselves. Whether these individuals are meeting the HJ21 goals has not yet been examined. This study aims to determine whether certified specialists in health management are meeting such goals, and to compare their performance with the national average. This is a cross-sectional survey study. Study participants, sourced from all prefectures in Japan, were specialists certified in health management. We measured data concerning demographic information, lifestyle (physical activity, nutrition, diet, sleep, rest, smoking, and alcohol use), and the use of preventive medicine. The study participants exhibited many characteristics of high health literacy. They had an overall healthy lifestyle and met most of the HJ21 goals of healthy lifestyle, and a high proportion underwent health maintenance examinations and cancer screenings. These practices and behaviors maybe associated with high health literacy and social engagement activities.

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Association between healthy lifestyle practices and life purpose among a highly health-literate cohort: a cross-sectional study

BMC Public Health ◽

10.1186/s12889-021-10905-7 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Nobutaka Hirooka ◽

Takeru Kusano ◽

Shunsuke Kinoshita ◽

Ryutaro Aoyagi ◽

Nakamoto Hidetomo

Keyword(s):

Health Promotion ◽

National Health ◽

Healthy Lifestyle ◽

Purpose In Life ◽

Health Promotion Program ◽

Life Purpose ◽

Cross Sectional Survey ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Lifestyle Practices ◽

Health Related

Abstract Background The national health promotion program in the twenty-first century Japan (HJ21) correlates life purpose with disease prevention, facilitating the adoption of healthy lifestyles. However, the influence of clustered healthy lifestyle practices on life purpose, within the context of this national health campaign remains uninvestigated. This study assessed the association between such practices and life purpose, in line with the HJ21. Methods We performed a nationwide cross-sectional survey on certified specialists in health management. Participants’ demographic information, lifestyle, and purpose in life were measured using a validated tool. The cohort was median-split into two groups based on their clustered health-related lifestyle score. The values for health-related lifestyle and purpose were compared between the two groups and the correlation between health-related lifestyle and purpose in life was measured. Results Data from 4820 participants were analyzed. The higher-scoring health-related lifestyle group showed a significantly higher life purpose than the lower group (35.3 vs 31.4; t = 23.6, p < 0.001). There was a significant association between the scores of clustered healthy lifestyle practices and life purpose (r = 0.401, p < 0.001). The higher-scoring health-related lifestyle group achieved a higher life purpose than the lower-scoring group. This association between healthy lifestyle practices and life purpose denotes a positive and linear relationship. Conclusions Our results suggest that individuals who have a better health-related lifestyle gain a higher sense of life purpose. In other words, a healthy lifestyle predicts a purpose in life. Our findings posit that examining the causal relationship between healthy lifestyle and purpose in life may be a more efficient approach toward health promotion.

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Association between healthy lifestyle practices and life purpose among a highly health-literate cohort: a cross-sectional study

10.21203/rs.3.rs-248447/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Nobutaka Hirooka ◽

Takeru Kusano ◽

Shunsuke Kinoshita ◽

Ryutaro Aoyagi ◽

Hidetomo Nakamoto

Keyword(s):

Health Promotion ◽

National Health ◽

Healthy Lifestyle ◽

Purpose In Life ◽

Health Promotion Program ◽

Life Purpose ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Lifestyle Practices ◽

Health Related ◽

Lower Group

Abstract Background The national health promotion program in 21st century in Japan (HJ21) correlates life purpose with disease prevention; facilitating the adoption of healthy lifestyles. However, the influence of clustered healthy lifestyle practices on life purpose, in the context of a national health campaign, remains uninvestigated. Hence, this study assessed the association between such practices and life purpose in line with the HJ21. Methods A nationwide cross-sectional survey was given to certified specialists in health management. Participants’ demographic information, lifestyle, and purpose in life using a validated tool were measured. The cohort was median-split into two groups based on their clustered health-related lifestyle score. Health-related lifestyle and purpose were compared between the two groups, and the correlation between health-related lifestyles and purpose in life was measured. Results Data from 4,820 participants were analyzed. The higher scoring health-related lifestyle group showed a significantly higher life purpose than the lower group (35.3 vs 31.4; t = 23.6, p < 0.001). The association between the scores of clustered healthy lifestyle practices and life purpose was significant (r = 0.401, p < 0.001). The better health-related lifestyle group achieved a higher life purpose than the lower group. This association between healthy lifestyle practices and life purpose denotes a positive and linear relationship. Conclusions The present study suggest that individuals who have a better health-related lifestyle gain a higher sense of life purpose. Healthy lifestyle predicted purpose in life. Examining causal relation between healthy lifestyle and purpose in life may provide more efficient approach for health promotion.

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The Concept of Mindfulness in Integrative Preventive Medicine

10.1093/med/9780190241254.003.0005 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Kim Aikens ◽

Shauna Shapiro

Keyword(s):

Quality Of Life ◽

Health Promotion ◽

Preventive Medicine ◽

Psychological Health ◽

Healthy Lifestyle ◽

Well Being ◽

Tertiary Prevention ◽

Preventive Strategy ◽

The Impact

This chapter discusses mindfulness as it applies to integrative preventive medicine. Defining mindfulness as the awareness that arises through intentionally attending in an open, caring, and discerning way, the chapter proposes three core mindfulness elements: intention, attention, and attitude. It explores the potential application of mindfulness to primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention. The chapter looks at the impact of mindfulness on health promotion and examines mindfulness as a secondary prevention strategy, particularly in hypertension and diabetes. It then addresses tertiary prevention and the impact of mindfulness in chronic disease. Lastly, mindfulness as a preventive strategy for psychological well-being is explored. Overall, there is strong evidence suggesting that mindfulness is positively associated with healthy lifestyle as well as improvements in depressive symptoms, stress, anxiety, quality of life, physical outcomes, and positive psychological health.

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Comprehensive Health Literacy and Health-Related Behaviors Within a General Japanese Population: Differences by Health Domains

Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1177/1010539518806806 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 30 (8) ◽

pp. 717-726 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Eiko Goto ◽

Hirono Ishikawa ◽

Kazuhiro Nakayama ◽

Takahiro Kiuchi

Keyword(s):

Health Promotion ◽

Health Literacy ◽

Disease Prevention ◽

Exercise Behavior ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Health Related Behaviors ◽

Health Domains ◽

Comprehensive Health ◽

Prevention And Health Promotion ◽

Health Related

The present study aimed to explore how different health-related domains of health literacy, as measured by the European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire, were associated with health-related behaviors among a general population in Japan. We conducted a cross-sectional observational study of 1002 Japanese residents. Our questionnaire addressed socioeconomic status, health status, health-related behaviors, and health literacy. Among the 3 health-related domains of health literacy (health care, disease prevention, and health promotion), a multivariate model revealed that the disease prevention domain was associated with exercise behavior and alcohol consumption. The health promotion domain was associated with dietary behavior and exercise behavior. There were strong correlations among all health-related domains of health literacy; however, there were different associations between health literacy and health-related behaviors depending on those domains. Additional research is needed to determine how and to what extent each domain of health literacy is related to what health behaviors and outcomes.

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Health Literacy as Communicative Action—A Qualitative Study among Persons at Risk in the Context of Predictive and Preventive Medicine

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17051718 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (5) ◽

pp. 1718 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Laura Harzheim ◽

Mariya Lorke ◽

Christiane Woopen ◽

Saskia Jünger

Keyword(s):

At Risk ◽

Health Literacy ◽

Preventive Medicine ◽

Communicative Action ◽

Theoretical Approaches ◽

Life Attitudes ◽

Related Risk ◽

Public Debates ◽

Health Related ◽

Leading Question

Predictive and preventive medicine play an increasingly important role in public debates on health, providing cutting-edge technologies with the potential to measure and predict individual risks of getting ill. This leads to an ever-expanding definitional space between being “healthy” and being “ill”, challenging the individual’s everyday life, attitudes and perceptions towards the self and the process of health-related decision-making. “How do the condition of ‘being at risk’ and individual health literacy interrelate?” is the leading question of the current contribution. Drawing on empirical qualitative data, collected by means of narrative interviews with persons at risk in four clinical fields, a bottom-up ethnographic and health sciences perspective on health literacy (with an emphasis on critical health literacy) is employed. The findings will be embedded within theoretical approaches dealing with power relations and communication in healthcare encounters, particularly Habermas’ theory of communicative action. The core outcome of our study is a concept for an overarching model of health literacy in the context of health-related risk prediction across indications, based on empirical insights gained through interpretative analysis of the four clinical domains.

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Effects of health promotion courses on development of healthy lifestyle behaviours and e-health literacy in nursing

GULHANE MEDICAL JOURNAL ◽

10.26657/gulhane.00054 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 61 (2) ◽

pp. 52

Author(s):

Sabahat Coşkun ◽

Hatice Bebiş

Keyword(s):

Health Promotion ◽

Health Literacy ◽

Healthy Lifestyle ◽

Lifestyle Behaviours

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’The Pyramid of Success” the health promotion program for school- children with visual impairment

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckz187.047 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽

Author(s):

M Wrzesinska ◽

K Binder ◽

J Rakoczy ◽

K Tabała ◽

A Lipert

Keyword(s):

Health Promotion ◽

Health Literacy ◽

Visual Impairment ◽

Healthy Lifestyle ◽

Equal Access ◽

Nutrition Status ◽

Health Promotion Program ◽

Control Group ◽

Present Information ◽

Main Effect

Abstract Issue/problem Young people with visual impairment (VI) are more likely to have low literacy comparing to the rest of population. Additionally, they are at the high risk of obesity what has been attributed to poor food choices or lack of physical activity. Hence, interventions to support their nutrition status are needed. Description of the problem One hundred eighty six students aged 10-18 years (M = 13.9; SD = 2.44) selected from 6 schools for pupils with VI. An intervention describing healthy lifestyle guidelines was performed. Two innovative tools concerning nutrition guidelines tailored to the needs of people with VI were used during intervention: The Healthy Lifestyle Pyramid (HLP) and the Puzzle Game (PG). Participants were devoted to the Control Group (CG; N = 94) where only HLP was used and the Study Group (SG, N = 92) who participated in the classes with both tools: HLP and PG. Before and just after intervention a single-choice questionnaire regarding health literacy comprising 15 questions was used to verify the level of required knowledge regarding nutrition. Results There was a significant main effect of using HLP in the CG F(1. 132)=14.524, p < 0.001. The main effect of using HLP and PG in the SG was also significant, F(1. 132)=6.188, p = 0.014. The actual difference in mean scores between SG and CG was medium. The effect size, calculated using partial eta squared, was .045. Lessons The interventions with tools tailored to the needs of people with VI had positive significant impact on nutrition knowledge. Health promotion activities focusing on the health literacy improvement are more effective when various approaches are used to present information. Future health promotion activities should be adjusted to the needs of different populations to provide an equal access to healthy behaviours and to enhance health literacy. Key messages Using tools tailored to the needs of people with VI provide an equal access to health promotion. Health promotion activities are more effective when range approaches are used to present information.

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