Changes in health behaviors, health indicators and behavioral intentions via individualized feedback on blood pressure and cholesterol status in cross-cultural comparison

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Britta Renner
• Subject Area: Personality Psychology, Clinical and Medical Psychology, Methodology
• Term: from 2002 to 2007
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5340358

Engagement in preventive health behaviors is not merely determined bythe awareness of objective health risks but it is mainly influenced byhealth beliefs and specific health cognitions. The main issue of thisresearch project involves the effects that individualized feedback after health screenings for cholesterol and blood pressure has on various objective and subjective health indicators in South Korean adults (age > 17). In a pre-post-test field experiment with a no-treatment control group, about 800 subjects will be recruited to receive individualized feedback about their cholesterol and blood pressure status, along with a battery of questionnaires. A control group (N = 400) will be administered a questionnaire battery only. The physical examination and the questionnaires will be re-administered six months later to examine changes in actual health status, beliefs and health-relevant behaviors.The Korean data will be analyzed in-depth and compared with an available corresponding German dataset of the Berlin Risk Appraisal and Health Motivation Study (BRAHMS). The analyses will be done with particular emphasis on culture-invariant and culture-dependent effects. This research promises to yield important leads for a better understanding of health behavior change, particularly (1) the motivation for appropriate health behavior following a blood pressure and cholesterol screening, and (2) to further developments of theoretical models and the extension of existing ones for health promotion.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Person: Professor Dr. Kim Hyun-Woo