Introduction / Rationale: Taiwan faces increasing caregiving burden challenges in the healthcare system while becoming a super-aged society in 2025. As a healthy lifestyle is crucial for alleviating the burden, this study aims to investigate the health behaviors of the community-dwelling older adults. Understanding these behaviors will provide insights into their lifestyles and inform the development of effective health promotion policies to enhance well-being and reduce societal caregiving costs.
Objectives: A questionnaire survey on health behaviors among community-dwelling older adults in Taiwan
Methods / Approach: Based on the health promotion concept model, we designed a questionnaire covering five dimensions: daily routines, exercise, leisure, diet, and psychological/social participation to evaluate participation behaviors. Greater participation earns higher scores. Data were collected from community-dwelling older adults aged 60 and above in southern Taiwan. Statistical analysis adopted were descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, independent samples t-tests, chi-square tests, and ANOVA.
Results / Practice Implications: The result indicated that average scores for exercise and leisure were significantly lower than the overall average. Older adults over the average age of this study scored significantly lower in exercise than those under average age. Qualitative data revealed that some participants felt they lacked exercise.
Conclusion / Contribution to the occupational therapy profession: The results of this study indicate that older adults in Taiwan had insufficient participation in exercise and leisure activities. However, the current health promotion policies of our government have already focused on exercise and leisure programs. There seems a need for education for older adults to further enhance their health behaviors and promote a healthy lifestyle.