ABSTRACT

The Relationship between Some Adults'' Health Belief and Preventive Behaviors for Hepatitis A, and Seroprevalence Rate of Hepatitis A


Ko, Seok Gu
Advisor : Prof. Park Jong, MD. Ph.D
Department of Public Health
Chosun University
Graduate School of Public Health



Purpose: In the case of hepatitis A, prevention is the most important. Such preventive behaviors as hand-washing, drinking boiled water, and having cooked food are effective. Among various preventive behaviors, vaccination is a good way of having an antibody, but vaccination rate of hepatitis A is lower than that of hepatitis B. Since individuals don''t make habits of personal hygiene including hand-washing, drinking hot water, and eating cooked food, preventive behaviors of hepatitis A fail to lead into execution. Therefore, this study tries to look into the relationship between preventive behaviors and health belief for hepatitis A and seroprevanlence rate of hepatitis A, and thereby provide a fundamental material necessary to develop an efficient health program for the prevention of hepatitis A.

Subjects and Method: The study subjects were 370 patients in their 20s and more who were hospitalized in KS Hospital in Gwangju. With the subjects, this researcher had investigated their health belief and whether they had an antibody of hepatitis A from Sep. 1 to Oct. 30, 2014.
Results: The cross ratio of seroprevanlence rate of hepatitis A significantly increased with an increase in age [1.210(95% CI, 1.158-1.264)], and those who had hepatitis A vaccination had a significantly higher cross ratio than those who didn''t [19.591(95% CI 6.524-58.82)], and the more health motivation they had, the higher the cross ratio was [1.478(95% CI 1.053-2.075)].

Conclusion: To increase seroprevalence rate of hepatitis A, it is necessary to provide personal hygiene for health motivation and prevention education thoroughly and to give vaccination of hepatitis