ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to test hypotheses derived from the Developmental Health Model (DHM) by examining the relationships among mothers' resilience (a dimension of health potential), family health work, and mothers' health-promoting lifestyle practices in families with pre-school children. In the DHM, it is proposed that family health potential (strengths, motivations, resources) positively influences the degree of family participation in health work, a process of active involvement in health-related problem-solving and goal attainment activities. The degree of participation in health work positively influences health outcomes, such as health-promoting lifestyle practices. The pre-school family was chosen as the study population because of its significance in impacting the present and future health status of its members (Duffy, 1988).
A convenience sample of 67 mothers of pre-school children was recruited from three nursery schools to participate in this study. Participants completed the Resilience Scale, which measures an individual's level of resilience (Wagnild & Young, 1993); the Health Options Scale, which measures the degree of family participation in health work (Ford-Gilboe, 1994, 1997); the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II, a measure of individual health-promoting lifestyle practices (Walker, Sechrist, & Pender, 1987) and a demographic questionnaire, which provided information about personal and family characteristics such as mothers' age and employment status, family size, and family income.
Consistent with theoretical expectations, both mothers' resilience and family health work were positively related to mothers' health-promoting lifestyle practices. Mothers' resilience and health work were only weakly correlated, providing questionable support for the hypothesized relationship between these variables. Family income and mothers' educational level, employment status, and marital status were the only demographic variables related to any of the main study variables.
This study adds further support for the validity of the DHM by substantiating the influence of a dimension of health potential (mothers' resilience) and health work on mothers' health-promoting lifestyle practices, a health outcome, in families with preschool children. Study findings provide direction for the future theory refinement and testing and for the development and implementation of interventions that may enhance health-promoting lifestyle practices in families with pre-school children.