- Title
- Multiple health risk behaviours among vocational education students
- Creator
- Atorkey, Prince
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2022
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- There is limited research examining multiple health risk behaviours among vocational education students. This thesis examined important aspects that influence behaviour change for multiple health risk behaviours (i.e., smoking tobacco, inadequate fruit intake, inadequate vegetable intake, risky alcohol consumption, and physical inactivity) to inform the development of multiple health behaviour interventions for vocational education students. Chapter 1 summarises the literature about the co-occurrence and clustering of health risk factors among vocational education students, intention to change multiple health risk behaviours in vocational education students, availability and use of online and telephone support services targeting health risk behaviours and, barriers and facilitators to uptake of online and telephone support services targeting health risk behaviours. Chapter 2 describes a systematic review of studies that have examined the co-occurrence and/or clustering of health risk factors (i.e., smoking tobacco, inadequate fruit intake, inadequate vegetable intake, risky alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, obesity/overweight, depression, and anxiety) and socio-demographic characteristics associated with co-occurrence and/or clustering of health risk factors among vocational education students. Eight studies were included in the systematic review, with six studies examining the co-occurrence of health risk factors and three studies examining the clustering of health risk factors. Co-occurrence of health risk factors ranged from 29-98%. Clustering of health risk factors was commonly reported for alcohol use and tobacco smoking. There was limited evidence about the socio-demographic characteristics associated with co-occurrence or clustering of health risk factors. Given the limited studies that have examined co-occurrence and/or clustering of health risk factors among vocational education students an examination of how all eight health risk factors co-occur or cluster in vocational education students is needed. In Chapter 3, clustering of multiple health risk factors and socio-demographic characteristics associated with identified clusters was examined among vocational education students (n=1134). Four clusters were identified using latent class analysis. Cluster 1 (13% of sample) had “high anxiety, high inadequate vegetable intake, low tobacco and low alcohol use”. Cluster 2 (16% of sample) had “high tobacco smoking, high alcohol use, high anxiety, high depression and high inadequate vegetable intake”. Cluster 3 (52% of sample) had “high risky alcohol use, high inadequate vegetable intake, low depression, low anxiety, low tobacco smoking and low physical inactivity”. Cluster 4 (19% of sample) was a “lower risk cluster with high inadequate vegetable intake”. All clusters had moderate fruit intake and moderate overweight/obesity. Compared to cluster 4, participants who were 16-25 years-old and those experiencing financial stress were more likely to belong to clusters 1, 2 and 3 and females and people who identified their gender as other were more likely to belong to cluster 1. Compared to cluster 4, students with an education of Year 10 or less and those who identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander were more likely to belong to cluster 2. The study findings suggested multiple health behaviour change interventions for vocational education students may need to be targeted based on risk clusters. Chapter 4 examined vocational education students’ (n=540) intention to change multiple health risk behaviours and whether intention to change, psychological factors and socio-demographic characteristics predicted behaviour change at 6-months follow-up. Of 450 (83.3%) participants who reported multiple health risk behaviours at baseline, 35.8%, 38.9%, 18.7% and 6.7% engaged in two, three, four and five health risk behaviours respectively at that time. One-third (33.1%) of participants intended to change at least two health risk behaviours within 6 months. Participants who reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety and those who intended to change three to four risk behaviours rather than one health risk behaviour, had significantly greater odds of successfully changing at least one behaviour. Chapter 5 examined the uptake of proactively offered online and telephone support services targeting multiple health risk behaviours among vocational education students (n=551). Socio-demographic and psychological characteristics associated with uptake of online and telephone support services targeting health risk behaviours were also explored. Uptake of proactively offered online or telephone services was 6.8% for smoking, 14.5% for fruit and vegetables, 5.5% for alcohol use, and 12.7% for physical activity. Uptake of any online or telephone service for at least two health risk behaviours was 5.8%. Participants who were employed and reported not being anxious had smaller odds of signing up for online or telephone support services for smoking tobacco, whereas participants who reported not being depressed had greater odds for signing up for online and telephone support services for smoking. Participants who intended to change their physical activity in the next 30 days had greater odds of signing up for online or telephone services for physical activity. Participants who were employed had smaller odds of signing up for online or telephone support services for at least two health risk behaviours. Given Chapter 5 reported low uptake, Chapter 6 explored the barriers and facilitators to uptake of online and telephone support services targeting health risk behaviours. Semi-structured individual telephone interviews with 15 vocational education students were conducted using a discussion guide informed by the COM-B (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, Behaviour) model. Facilitators to uptake of online services targeting smoking, nutrition, alcohol, physical activity (SNAP) risk behaviours included: desire to try or learn something new; online support complements telephone support (capability-related); easily accessible and convenient/flexible; additional support to change; cost-free to use and acceptable duration (opportunity-related) and motivation to change SNAP risk behaviours (motivation-related). Facilitators to vocational education students’ uptake of telephone services were online support complements telephone support (capability-related) and prefer to talk to a support provider (opportunity-related). In relation to barriers, a capability-related barrier was difficulty understanding accent or language for telephone services. Opportunity-related barriers for online and telephone services were preference for face-to-face interaction and lack of time, while preference for apps or online programs was also reported as a barrier to the uptake of telephone services. A motivation-related barrier for both online and telephone services was not wanting to change SNAP risk behaviours while being able to change SNAP risk behaviours themselves was a motivation-related barrier for online services. Chapter 7 presents a discussion of the main findings, limitations of the thesis, and implications of findings for support service providers, vocational education settings and researchers.
- Subject
- multiple health risk behaviours; vocational education students; online support services; telephone support services; thesis by publication
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1513276
- Identifier
- uon:56706
- Rights
- Copyright 2022 Prince Atorkey
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 317 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |