Physicians' beliefs about the importance of 25 health promoting behaviors.

Abstract

A mail survey of 1,040 primary care physicians in Maryland examined their beliefs about the importance of 25 behaviors for promoting the health of the average person. Physician

Illness attribution among Japanese patients with acute myocardial infarction

“…In contrast, patients frequently identified psychological factors such as stress as important causes of AMI. 23 As in previous studies conducted in Western countries, stress was identified as the second most likely cause of AMI by Japanese patients in our study. Thus, health care providers should incorporate stress management into patient education, counseling, and cardiac rehabilitation programs and discuss its role in AMI related to other primary risk factors.…”

What can we generalize from research on patient education and clinical health promotion to physician counseling on diet?

“…Physicians and others trained in the medical tradition appear to doubt the importance of some behavioral risk factors (Battista, 1983;Sobal et al, 1986). In a survey of primary care physicians less than half agreed that moderating or eliminating alcohol use, decreasing salt consumption, avoiding saturated fats, engaging in regular exercise, avoiding cholesterol, and minimizing sugar intake are very important for health promotion.…”

Why those who drink the most coffee appear to be at increased risk of disease. A modest proposal

“…In addition, some physicians convey to their patients the view that limiting caffeine consumption promotes health (Sobal et al, 1985). Thus, we are not surprised by the finding that coffee drinkers in general, and consumers of relatively large amounts of caffeine-containing coffee in particular, are more likely than their peers to perceive their health as good.…”