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Evaluating a health behaviour model for persons with and without an intellectual disability
Author(s) -
BrehmerRinderer B.,
Zigrovic L.,
Weber G.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of intellectual disability research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.941
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1365-2788
pISSN - 0964-2633
DOI - 10.1111/jir.12046
Subject(s) - psychology , perception , intellectual disability , sample (material) , test (biology) , sociology of health and illness , population , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , psychiatry , health care , medicine , paleontology , chemistry , environmental health , chromatography , neuroscience , economics , biology , economic growth
Background Based on the idea of the C ommon S ense M odel of I llness R epresentations by L eventhal as well as L ohaus's concepts of health and illness, a health behaviour model was designed to explain health behaviours applied by persons with intellectual disabilities ( ID ). The key proposal of this model is that the way someone understands the concepts of health, illness and disability influences the way they perceive themselves and what behavioural approaches to them they take. Method To test this model and explain health differences between the general population and person with ID , 230 people with ID and a comparative sample of 533 persons without ID were included in this A ustrian study. Data were collected on general socio‐demographics, personal perceptions of illness and disability, perceptions of oneself and health‐related behaviours. Results Psychometric analysis of the instruments used showed that they were valid and reliable and hence can provide a valuable tool for studying health‐related issues in persons with and without ID . With respect to the testing of the suggested health model, two latent variables were defined in accordance to the theory. The general model fit was evaluated by calculating different absolute and descriptive fit indices. Most indices indicated an acceptable model fit for all samples. Conclusions This study presents the first attempt to explore the systematic differences in health behaviour between people with and without ID based on a suggested health model. Limitations of the study as well as implications for practice and future research are discussed.