| Abstract: | The purpose of this research was to find the current situation, as well as the effect of the intervention of health education about the knowledge, self-efficacy, and behavior change of the middle aged and elder in the community. The quasi-experiment methodology was applied in this research. The objects were selected from two communities in the Taichung City, and they were divided into experimental group and control group with thirty persons in each group, respectively. The value of the Cronbach’s α, representing the reliability of the questionnaire, was between 0.901 and 0.972. Compared with doing nothing in the control group, the intervention of health education about salt reduction was executed continuously in the experimental group for four weeks. The descriptive statistics and the one-way analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), using SPSS 22.0, were applied in the data analysis.
The research results revealed the following. The average ratio of correctly responding the two sets of questions about knowledge was 28.1%. Compared with the top score 5 on the self-efficacy, the average score of each question varied from 1.63 to 3.42, with the overall average score of 2.15. Compared with the top score 5 on the behavior change, the average score of each question varied from 4.32 to 5.00, with the overall average score of 4.77. After health education intervention was introduced, the result of ANCOVA for the experimental group showed a significantly positive change, in knowledge, behavior change, and self-efficacy respectively.
Some conclusions and suggestions were obtained from this research. For the objects under research, the score was relatively low on the questions about the knowledge of the salt-reduction, especially on the question “Artificial food with high sodium content will increase the chance of strikes.” After the intervention of the health education was introduced, significantly positive change was found in the field of salt reduction knowledge, the behavior change, and the self-efficacy, respectively. Therefore some suggestions were given hereby for the middle aged and elderly. (1) That the daily amount of salt intake less than 6 grams and food packed with highly sodium-contented will do no good the health was principally enhanced in the process of education about salt reduction. (2) That no catch-ups and reducing the amount of salt-intake in the occasions such as dining in wedding or funeral was the key point to the self-efficacy of salt reduction for the elderly. (3) That paying attention to the sodium content on packing of food and not purchasing the soused food was essential to the behavior change for the elderly. |
