1

HEALTH CONSCIOUSNESS
AND
LIFESTYLE OF GRADE 12-ABM STUDENTS

MEMBERS:

CHATO, MAUREEN

DOMERO, SHANE MAE

SENAJONON, CHRISTINE FE

ESTELA, LYCO JAY

 2

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

A lifestyle is a way of living of individuals, families (households), and

societies, which they manifest in coping with their physical, psychological, social

and economic environments on a day-to-day basis. It is expressed in both work

and leisure behaviour patterns and (on an individual basis) in activities, attitudes,

interests, opinions, values, and allocation of income. It also reflects people’s self-

image or self-concept; the way they see themselves and believe they are seen

by the others. According to Marga (2011) Lifestyle is a composite of motivations,

needs, and wants and is influenced by factors such as culture, family, reference

groups, and social class.

In international setting, students are known to live an unhealthy lifestyle.

According to Griffin (2016) university students are notorious for constantly going

out, binge drinking, poor diet and lack of sleep that causes students to become

consistently hangover and fatigue. This leads to illness and being unable to

attend lectures due to sleep deprivation. She also added that the students often

see energy drinks as a quick way to cure tiredness. However, these are thought

to have a negative effect on the body as they are high in sugar and have been

linked to liver damage, high blood pressure and increased heart rate.

Moreover in the Philippines, a myriad of studies have also shown that

college students often have unhealthy lifestyle for having poor dietary habits

(Haberman & Luffey, 2000). Unhealthy dietary and Physical Activity patterns of
 3

Filipino college students have carry over effects in their adulthood, predisposing

them to future health problems such as obesity, cardiovascular problems and a

host of many other diseases that will cause death (Calfas, et. al., 2000)

Meanwhile, in Davao City Tuazon (2015) claimed that socio-economic

development in Davao City was challenged by the unhealthy lifestyle of university

students by regularly in taking street junk foods that will cause diseases since it

was contaminated by mixed gases and pollution such as smoke emission from

vehicles. Gastric irritation is also possible from the sauces, as it is used countless

times for dripping. Suello (2015) evaluated some possible risks that youth will

acquire in street foods, which are mostly fried and grilled that leads to

hypertension, cardiovascular diseases and carcinogenic that will cause to

cancer.

Rationale

The goal of this study is to find out the student’s level of health
consciousness and lifestyle among ABM students. This research will explore the
other data resources to further expand the instructional and data production of
the study. The research will clarify how it mainly uses the survey technique to
obtain its information and why it is used in data collection. Conclusion and
recommendation will be provided as a form of this study’s result.

This study is conducted by the researchers with the intention to determine the
relationship of between the variable to be studied exist. Due to the absence of
pertinent studies regarding health consciousness and lifestyle of ABM students,
the researcher sensed an urgency to conduct such studies.

Research Objectives
 4

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between Health

Consciousness and Lifestyle of ABM students. Specifically, this study sought

answers to the following questions:

1. To determine the level of Health Consciousness of ABM Students in

terms of:

1.1 Health intervention;

2.2 Health preventive behaviours; and

3.3 Health attitudes.

2. To determine the level of Lifestyle of ABM Students in terms of:

2.1 Healthy habits;

2.2 Physical fitness;

2.3 Personal responsibility; and

2.4 Nutrition and stress management.

3. To determine significant relationship between Health Consciousness

and Lifestyle of ABM Students.

Hypothesis

H0: There is no significant relationship between Health Consciousness

and Lifestyle of ABM students.

Literature Review
 5

Presented in this section are the related literature that are relevant in the

present study taken from various sources such as books, magazines, journals

and internet, covering the related reviews of the two variables sequenced as

follows: Health Consciousness; Lifestyle of ABM Students; and the Relationship

between the two variables or their respective indicators.

Health Consciousness

Individual health consciousness was equated to the orientation toward a

wellness lifestyle. It claims that wellness is a set of personal activities, interests,

and opinions related to one’s health that connected to the awareness and

consciousness of an individual. They identified the four sub-dimensions of

wellness-concern for hazardous environment, physical fitness, personal

responsibility, and nutrition and stress management, and concluded that the

characteristics of a health conscious people are the following: sensitive to health

hazards, responsible for their health, concerned about their physical fitness, and

concerned with managing their stress and nutrition. Except for four items that

measure personal health responsibility, it is said that the following items are

merely used in measuring the actual behaviors of an individual’s (Goodel and

Kraft, 2003).

Shaw and Newholm (2002) exemplify the concept of voluntary simplicity

as the degree to which an individual consciously chooses a way of life, motivated

by anti-consuming, which is intended to maximize the individuals control over

his/her own life by buying less and purchasing only organic health-friendly foods

or pursuing vegetarian diets. These people enjoy life by avoiding the harmful
 6

effects of material dependence and over-consumption. Most voluntary simplifiers

have a qualified educational background, high social status and high

consciousness about their life; however, they are deprived of meaninglessness

caused by over-consumption.

Meanwhile, Iversen and Kraft (2006) emphasized that health

consciousness is particularly important psychographic variable in further

developing audience segmentation pertaining to health issues because

previous studies have shown that health consciousness predicts a variety of

health attitudes and behaviours. It is also believed that an individual level of

Health consciousness is closely related to how he or she seeks and responds to

health information. Therefore, taking heed of individual’s health consciousness is

important in designing health interventions and segmenting target publics,

because it determines their responses to health information and sources of

health information.

Furthermore, Forthofer and Bryant (2000) explained why identifying

individual with High health consciousness is important in several ways. First and

most fundamentally, different approaches to group with different levels of health

consciousness are feasible, which in turn increases the effectiveness of health

intervention. Second, individuals with high health consciousness are regarded as

“target of greatest opportunity”. Because they are more likely to be ready to

undertake health preventive behaviors. By targeting health conscious individuals

Health interventions have a better chance to achieve desirable outcomes. Third,

 7

the attitudes or behaviours of health conscious individuals could be diffused

among other people who are less likely to change their attitudes or behaviours.

Health Intervention. An intervention is a combination of program

elements or strategies designed to produce behaviour changes or improve health

status among individuals or an entire population. Interventions may include

educational programs, new or stronger policies, improvements in the

environment, or a health promotion campaign. Interventions that include multiple

strategies are typically the most effective in producing desired and lasting

change. Interventions may be implemented in different setting including

communities, worksites, schools, health care organizations, faith-based

organizations or in the home. Interventions implemented

In multiple settings and using multiple strategies may be the most effective

because of the potential to reach a larger number of people in a variety of ways.

Evidence has shown that interventions create change by: influencing individuals’

knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and skills: increasing social support, and creating

supportive environments, policies and resources (Bartholomew et al, 2011).

Meanwhile, Funk (2015) examines the impact of marketing strategies on

the dissemination of a brief alcohol health intervention program to general

practitioners (GPs). The marketing strategy was tested to determine the most

effective way to promote awareness about and consideration of a brief alcohol

intervention program. The study also examines the impact of training and support

strategies to promote the program's implementation in routine primary care. The

 8

result of the study accept the brief intervention program as more effective with

use of telemarketing (65%) and academic detailing (67%) than with direct mail

(32%) for promoting awareness about and consideration of a brief alcohol

intervention program. The median proportion of patients screened was higher for

trained GPs (6%) and supported GPs (9%) than for control GPs (1%), who

received only written guidance on how to conduct brief intervention. Similarly, the

median rate for giving advice to at-risk patients was higher for trained GPs (3%)

and supported GPs (3%) than for control GPs (0%). The researcher concluded

that the adoption of more direct approaches for disseminating evidence-based on

health intervention programs to GPs is a necessary first step for changing

practice behaviour.

Health Preventive Behaviours. Health preventive behaviour is one of the

most important elements in people’s health and well-being. Its importance has

grown as sanitation has improved and medicine has advanced. Diseases that

were once incurable or fatal can now be prevented or successfully treated and

health-related behaviour has become an important component of public health.

The improvement of health-related behaviours is, therefore, central to public

health activities (Prochaska 2010).

Moreover, behavioural factors play a role in each the twelve leading

causes of death including chronic of death in the United States and other

developed countries. The most common behavioural contributors to mortality, or

death, in 1990 included the use of alcohol, tobacco, firearms and motor vehicles,

diet and activity patterns; sexual behaviour; and illicit use of drugs. Behaviours
 9

such as these are thought to contribute to almost half of the deaths in the United

States, and according to McGinnis and Forge (2013, behaviours were

responsible for nearly 1 million deaths in the United States in the year of 1992

alone. The social and economic costs related to these behaviours can all be

greatly reduced by changes in individual behaviours.

Meanwhile, although there is more information about what constitutes

healthy behaviour and risk factors than ever before, this information has not

always led to healthier behaviours. There have been some positive changes,

however. Between 1988 and 1994, the average daily intake of dietary fat in the

United States dropped from 36 percent to 34 percent of total calories; seat belt

use increased from 42 percent to 67 percent; and the number of women over the

age of forty who had breast exams and mammograms doubled. Cigarette

smoking has decreased among men by as much as 50 percent in some

countries. Unfortunately, during this same period, the number of obese adults

rose, sexual activity among adolescents increased, more teenage girls began

smoking, and the incidence of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) AIDS

reached epidemic proportions (McGinnis, 2013).

Furthermore, a study conducted by Chater (2013) that aimed to identify

the extent to which levels of happiness and self-efficacy could predict preventive

health behaviours and BMI. The result of the study claimed that evidence

presented suggests happiness and high self-efficacy beliefs can significantly

enhance health preventive behaviours. Individual with high level of health

preventive behaviour expresses higher levels of happiness, exhibit higher levels

 10

of self-efficacy and have a lower BMI. Suggestions are made to tailor health

promotion campaigns towards enhancing mood and personal control beliefs.

Heath Attitudes. Attitude is hypothetical construct that represents an

individual’s like or dislike for an item. Attitudes are positive, negative or neutral

views of an “attitude object”, such as a person, behaviour or event. People can

also be “ambivalent” towards a target, meaning that they simultaneously possess

a positive and a negative bias towards the attitude in question. The effective

response is a physiological response that expresses as individual’s preference

for an entity. The behavioural intention is a verbal indication on the intention of an

individual. The cognitive response is a cognitive evaluation of the entity to form

an attitude. Most attitudes in individuals are a result of observational learning

from their environment (Holand, 2009).

Moreover, an individual’s diet and physical activity habits are influenced by

their knowledge and attitudes towards healthy behaviours. Health belief model

theorizes that in order for behaviour change to take place, an individual must first

believe that change is both possible and beneficial, and that the benefits of

changing outweigh any perceived costs of making the change. The model

demonstrates the relationship between an individual’s attitudes towards a

particular set of behaviours, and their subsequent willingness or ability to make

changes to improve or protect their health. For example, if a person does not

consider their diet to be unhealthy, they are unlikely to make any significant

dietary changes to improve their health especially if they perceive that doing so
 11

would mean substituting food they like for food they may like less (Nutbeam&

Harris, 2004).

Furthermore, based on an analysis of Health Styles data, they conducted

a study that was designed to demonstrate people who gather information on the

Internet are more health-oriented than non-users of Internet health information.

The results showed that individuals who searched for health information on the

Internet have a high level of health attitude and were indeed more likely to be

health-oriented than those who did not. Consumers who sought out medical

information on the Internet reported higher levels of health-information orientation

and healthy activities, health attitudes, as well as stronger health beliefs than

those who did not search for medical news on the Internet. It was observed that

those who reported searching for information about drugs and medications on

the Internet held stronger health beliefs than the non-searchers. Finally,

consumers who sought out healthy lifestyle information on the Internet were

more health conscious and more health-information oriented than those who did

not. They were also more likely to hold stronger health-oriented beliefs and to

engage in healthy activities and have a good health attitudes. The results support

the functional theory of Internet use. Internet searchers who used the Internet for

a wide range of health purposes were typically more health oriented than non-

searchers (Bergman, 2000)

Lifestyle

Lifestyle is a way used by people, groups and nations and is formed in

specific geographical, economics, political, cultural and religious text. Lifestyle is

 12

referred to the characteristics of inhabitants of a region in special time and place.

It includes day to day behaviours and functions of individuals in job activities, fun

and diet. In recent decades, life style as an important factor of health is more

interested by researchers (Farhud, 2015).

Meanwhile, according to WHO, 60% of related factors to individual health

and quality of life are correlated to lifestyle (1) millions of people follow unhealthy

lifestyle .Hence, they encounter illness, disability and even death. Problem like

metabolic diseases, joint and skeletal problems, cardio-vascular diseases,

hypertension, overweight, violence and so on can be cause by an unhealthy

lifestyle. The relationship of lifestyle and health should be highly considered.

Malnutrition, unhealthy diet ,smoking , alcohol consuming ,drug abuse ,stress

and so on, are the presentations of unhealthy life style that are used as dominant

form of lifestyle .besides ,lives of citizens face with new challenges. For instance,

emerging new technologies within IT such as the internet and virtual

communication networks, lead our world to a major challenge that threatens the

physical and mental health of individuals. The challenge is the overuse and

misuse of the technology.

Furthermore, the researchers claimed that an active lifestyle can be the

key to building and maintaining healthy bones, muscles and joints, controlling

weight, increasing self-esteem, reducing stress; and promoting social well-being

in both children and adults. And as if that weren’t enough, physical exercise also

plays as role in the prevention and treatment of some chronic diseases. The

federal Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) claimed that high level
 13

of healthy lifestyle like physical activity decreases the risk of high blood pressure,

stroke, colon cancer, diabetes, breast cancer, osteoporosis, obesity and

cardiovascular disease and helps in the treatment of high blood pressure,

diabetes, osteoporosis and obesity. (Smith and Williams 2008),

Healthy Habits. Healthy habits are anything that the individual do to

benefit its physical, mental or emotional well-being. When put together, these

habits create a framework for a healthy life. If an individual are not use to have a

healthy lifestyle, these habits can be difficult to develop, because they will need

to alter its mind set a bit and even change up its daily schedule. The researcher

claimed that having a high level of healthy habits like getting physical activity

benefits both body and mind. It helps to keep weight in control, fights off chronic

disease, reduces stress, improves moods, and gives a sense of accomplishment.

Getting physical activity does not have to involve hours at the gym instead, there

are many ways that one can make small changes throughout the day to make life

less sedentary and get the body moving (Scott, 2018).

Personal Responsibility. Personal responsibility in health care is all

about on follow healthy lifestyles (exercising, maintaining a healthy weight, and

not smoking) and are good patients (keeping, our appointments, heeding our

physician’s advice, and using a hospital emergency department only for

emergencies), they will be rewarded by feeling better and spending less money.

There are many examples of initiatives that are meant to promote personal

responsibility. The world health organization will no longer hire persons who

smoke, suck, chew, or snuff any tobacco product, although it will still recruit
 14

people “who do not have a healthy lifestyle”. Personal responsibility for health

and for obtaining health care is also part of the federal government’s “Roadmap

to Medication Reform”. Under the deficit Reduction Act of 2005, states have

increased flexibility in designing and implementing their Medicaid programs.

Which are jointly financed with the federal government. (Steinbrook, 2007).

Personal responsibility for lifestyle choices, it is argued that in order for an

individual to be considered fully responsible, certain preconditions must ideally

be met their actions must be informed, voluntary, uncovered, spontaneous and

deliberated. These preconditions are problematic when applied to lifestyle

behaviours. Understanding which risk factors are within or outside of the

individuals control is necessary when discussing responsibility for health. A

balanced opinion would therefore suggest that lifestyle behaviours are influenced

by a complex interplay of intrapersonal factors. And responsibilities varies for

individuals along a continuum. Personal responsibility for lifestyle choices lies on

continuum between complete free will and no choice. For health is dependent on

cultural pressures, health literacy, health inequalities, mental capacity, and

genetic predisposition and in the case of smoking and alcohol, addiction to a

substance. Health behaviour is determined in part by perceptions of control over

performance of the behaviour which will vary from individual to individual. The

very nature of dependency suggests that the individual is unable to control their

use of a substance which is usually damaging to health. Determining the precise

degree by which an individual is responsible for lifestyle related health outcomes

is complex and problematic (Wiley & Sons,).

 15

Physical Fitness. “Physical Fitness” is terms that describe different

concepts. However, they are often confused with one another, and he terms are

sometimes used interchangeably. This paper proposes definitions to distinguish

them. Physical activity is defined as any bodily movement reduced by skeletal

muscles that result in energy expenditure. Physical activity in daily life can be

categorized into occupational, sports, conditioning, household other activities.

These definition are offered as an interpretational framework for comparing

studies that relate physical activity, exercise and physical fitness to health

(Caspersen, Powell and Christenson, 2009)

On the other hand, Blair (2014) study physical fitness and risk of all-cause

and cause-specific mortality in 10 224 men and 3120 women who were given a

preventive medical examination. Physical fitness was measured by a maximal

treadmill exercise test. These trends remained after statistical adjustment for

age, smoking habit, cholesterol level, systolic blood pressure, fasting blood

glucose level, parental history of coronary heart disease, and follow-up interval.

Lower mortality rates in higher fitness categories also were seen for

cardiovascular disease and cancer of combined sites. Attributable risk estimates

for all-cause mortality indicated that low physical fitness was an important risk

factor in both men and women. He claimed that the higher levels of physical

fitness appear to delay all-cause mortality primarily due to lowered rates of

cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Nutrition and Stress Management. Stress is a complex phenomenon

and each individual has his/her own level of stress tolerance. Exposure to
 16

stressor result in a series of coordinated responses often referred to as ‘stress

responses’ which are composed of series of reaction in the body including

alteration in behavior, autonomic function, secretion of multiple hormones and

various physiological changes in the body. There are several ways to cope up

with stress reducing benefits diet has powerful stress fighting and reducing

nutrient though food. Nutrition, well balanced diet has powerful stress reducing

benefits that improve brain functioning, shore up immune function, lower blood

pressure, improve the circulation and reduce toxins from the body. Some specific

nutrients play a very important role in reducing the level of cortical and adrenalin

in the body and also the stress chemicals that activate fight and flight response.

Management of stress may be a powerful tool for staying healthy. Researchers

have investigated the relationship between stress and many different medical

problems, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cholesterol level.

Because obesity is an underlying factor in these medical condition researcher

have often studied the role of stress in individuals eating behaviors such as the

amount eaten and the type of foods consumed. Stress creates greater

physiological demands. More energy, oxygen, circulation, and therefore more

metabolic cofactors are need (e.g., Vitamins and minerals). They result of the

study claimed that the irony of stress is people who are suffering stress need

more nutritionally dense diet but often opt for comfort food (like Sugary and fatty

foods) lacking in the necessary nutrients, consequently inducing a situation of

nutrients depletion that further compromises the metabolic system. They

concluded that high level of stress management should not be focused alone but
 17

also individual must have a high level of nutrition management like the quantity of

the food eaten to have a high level of health consciousness (Singh, 2016).

Theoretical Framework

This study is anchored on health consciousness proposition of Forthofer

and Bryant (2000) that identified individuals with high health consciousness is

important in several ways such as health intervention, health preventive

behaviours; and health attitudes. First, and most fundamentally, different

approaches to groups with different levels of health consciousness are feasible,

which in turn increases the effectiveness of health intervention. Individuals with

high health consciousness are regarded as “targets of greatest opportunity”

because they are more likely to be ready to undertake health preventive

behaviours. By targeting health conscious individuals, health interventions have a

better chance to achieve desirable outcomes. Third, the attitudes or behaviours

of health conscious individuals could be diffused among other people who are

less likely to change their attitudes or behaviours.

This study is also anchored on the proposition of Kraft and Goodell (2003)

on lifestyle that can be equated to individuals’ health consciousness to their

orientation toward a wellness lifestyle. Wellness is a set of personal activities,

interests and opinions related to one’s health” which has identified four sub-

dimensions of wellness, concern for hazardous environment, physical fitness,

personal responsibility, and nutrition and stress management, and concluded that

health conscious persons are characterized as being sensitive to health hazards,

 18

responsible for their health, concerned about their physical fitness, and

concerned with managing their stress and nutrition.

Conceptual Framework

The conceptual framework paradigm is presented in Figure 1. The

independent variable is the health consciousness which is defined as an attitude

in which one has an awareness of the healthiness of one’s diet and lifestyle and

as indicated by health intervention, health preventive behaviours and health

attitudes. Health intervention is defined as a combination of program elements or

strategies designed to produce behaviours changes or improve health status

among individuals or an entire population (Barthlowem et al, 2011). Health

preventive behaviours refers to one of the most important elements in people’s

health and well-being (Prochaska, 2010). Health attitudes refers to the

hypothetical construct that represent an individual’s like or dislike for an item

(Hoyland, 2009). The dependent variable is the lifestyle which is defined as a

way of living of individuals, families (household), and societies, which they

manifest in coping with their physical ., psychological, social, and economic

environments on a day-to-day basis and with indicators concern for hazardous

environment, physical fitness, personal responsibility, nutrition, and stress

management was based from Kraft and Goodell (2003). Healthy habits refers to

the groundwork for positive youth development. Most fundamental to the

developing child are health habits involving sleep, diet, and exercise (Danner,

2010). Physical fitness is a general state of health and well-being and more
 19

specifically the ability to perform aspects of sports or occupations (Tremblay,

2010). Personal responsibility refers to the health care that if one follow healthy

lifestyles such as exercising, maintaining a healthy weight, and not smoking and

are good patients, people will be rewarded by feeling better and spending less

money (Steinbrook, 2006). Nutrition and stress management refers to the

increasingly being challenge as the complex relationship between Health

Consciousness and Lifestyle of Home Economics Students through the double-

headed arrow.

Figure 1

Conceptual Paradigm

(X) (Y)

HEALTH LIFESTYLE OF
CONSCIOUSNESS
ABM
 Health intervention STUDENTS

 Health preventive  Healthy habits

behaviors  Physical fitness

 Health attitudes  Personal responsibility

 Nutrition and stress

management
 20

Significant of the Study

This study was conducted to determine the relationship between Health

Consciousness and Lifestyle of ABM students.

Nowadays, health consciousness have a big impact for the individual

lifestyle. There is a substantial evidence which indicates that the health of

children and young people is a major factor affecting their capacity to learn.

Similarly the level of individuals’ education and its consciousness influences their

lifestyle. This can be achieved through establishing health promoting schools,

which are means of organizing and linking all the crucial components which

shape the health of children and young people (Lee, 2003). Therefore, the result

of this study would be beneficial to the school administration since this would

provide data and information about the level of health consciousness and lifestyle

of ABM Students which they be can utilized as a basis for developing a program

to enhance the knowledge of students about health consciousness.

Health Consciousness is a determinant of healthy lifestyle. It will help

people to change their attitude and behaviours towards healthier lifestyle and

empowered people to look after their own health. A healthy lifestyle in effect is a

necessary condition for academic success. The researcher claimed that the

classroom teacher is the key to creating learning opportunities within and beyond

the classroom and to build children’s future capacities to grow, be productive and

accept lifelong responsibility for their healthy lifestyle (Botchway, 2015).

Therefore, the findings of this study can be utilized by teachers on how to

inculcate in the minds of their students the importance of health consciousness.

 21

Furthermore, the findings that can be derived would provide and widen the

knowledge of students, particularly in enhancing their knowledge about the

importance of health consciousness. And lastly, future researchers can utilize the

data and information from this study which can be used as a reference and data

baseline for future studies.

Definition of Terms

For the better understanding some of the terms are conceptually defined

below:

Health Consciousness: It is an attitude in which one has an awareness

of the healthiness of one’s diet and lifestyle (Barcia, 2014). In this study, it refers

to the awareness of ABM Students in one of the private non-sectarian institution

in Davao City.

Lifestyle: It is a way of living of individuals, families, and society, which

they manifest in coping with their physical, social, and economic environments

(Brown, 2006). In this study, it refers to the way of daily living or routines of ABM

Students in one of the private non-sectarian institution in Davao City.

ABM Students:These refer to the Senior High School learners taking

ABM Strand/Course in one of the private non-sectarian institution in Davao City

and serve as the respondents for this study.