Background: Nurses comprise the largest segment of healthcare professionals. As nursing students become health professionals, they will have a significant role in modeling health promoting lifestyles and educating patients regarding healthy lifestyle choices.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the predictors of health promoting lifestyles in baccalaureate nursing students.
Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional design was used to determine associations between variables including gender, age, basic metabolic index (BMI), financial need, race, ethnicity, relationship status, living situation, general health status, self-reported depressive symptoms, social support, academic outcomes, self-efficacy, and heath promoting lifestyles. A convenience sample of participants from baccalaureate colleges in the mid-west completed a demographic questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory II, the Interpersonal Support Evaluation List-College Version, the General Self-Efficacy Scale, and the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile, II to determine predictors of health promoting lifestyle. Results:\u3c
Discussion: The paucity of research regarding health-promoting lifestyles of future nursing professionals is of particular interest given the national policy initiatives concerning healthcare reform. The predictive model that met criteria for goodness of fit and significance of parameters found direct and indirect relationships between the parameters and health promoting lifestyles. Of particular interest is the finding that self-efficacy is a mediating variable between social support and health promoting lifestyles in the baccalaureate nursing student population. This finding contributes new knowledge, identifying this significant relationship that is not demonstrated on Pender\u27s health promotion model. Knowledge regarding predictors of health promoting lifestyles for nursing students will facilitate future intervention studies that will target strategies of significance for baccalaureate nursing students
