Use of the health belief model to examine older adults' food-handling behaviors

Objective: To measure the association among Health Belief Model (HBM) variables and safe food-handling behaviors among older adults. Design: A mail survey using Dillman's Total Design Method. Setting: In October 1999, a survey was sent to volunteers from a preexisting cohort of noninstitutionalized older adults living throughout Nevada. Data collection continued through January 2000. Participants: With a 56% response rate, the sample (n = 266) was composed mainly of women (73%) and individuals from urban counties (74%). The mean age was 68.09 years (SD = 8.27). Except for gender, sample characteristics were similar to those of the preexisting cohort. Variables Measured: Perceived threat of foodborne illness (ie, perceived severity and perceived susceptibility), cues to action (ie, media cues and educational cues), and safe foodhandling behaviors (ie, sanitation and cross-contanimation). Analysis: Rank order correlation coefficients were computed to measure the association among variables. Significance was set at P <.05. Results: Cues to action were positively related to perceived threat of foodborne illness and safe food-handling behaviors. Perceived severity of foodborne illness was positively related to one dimension of safe food-handling behaviors (ie, sanitation). Conclusions and Implications: The HBM is a useful framework for examining food-handling behaviors among older adults.