Determinant factors of the difference between self-reported weight and measured weight among Japanese.

Objectives: To assess the difference between self-reported and measured weight values in Japanese men and women and to determine the underlying determinants of the differences between self-reported and measured values.

Methods: The data were collected from 363 general Japanese individuals aged 16-88 years living in Kumamoto prefecture. Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire designed for this study with self-reported weight and height values.

Relationship between lifestyle and lifestyle-related factors in a rural-urban population of Japan.

Objective: To clarify the actual state of residents' lifestyle in a mixed rural-urban area in Japan, and to investigate the relationship between residents' lifestyle and lifestyle-related factors.

Methods: The Japanese version of Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II), lifestyle-related factors developed through group work with residents of Town A, and demographic variables were used to evaluate 1176 community residents' lifestyles and associated factors.

Results: Factor analysis revealed that there were 4 factors related to healthy lifestyle.

Community factors to promote parents' quality of child-nurturing life.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to clarify the role of community factors in parents' quality of child-nurturing life (QCNL).

Methods: We developed a questionnaire to evaluate the degree of QCNL and determine the structural factors related to QCNL as community factors related to parents' QCNL derived from focus group interviews and the Delphi technique. The questionnaire also included the battery of the self-rating depression scale and Tsumori-Inage Infant's Developmental Test.

Assessment of health-promoting lifestyle profile in Japanese university students.

Objectives: This descriptive study of 314 students was conducted to determine whether there were any relationships of their demographic variables with a health-promoting lifestyle profile.

Methods: The Japanese version of the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II) questionnaire was used to investigate students' lifestyles. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple comparison procedures using the Scheffe test were conducted to identify significant differences among university year (first, second, etc.

A comparative study of health-promoting lifestyles in agricultural and non-agricultural workers in Japan.

Objectives: To clarify the difference in health-promoting lifestyles between agricultural and non-agricultural workers in Japan, a cross-sectional study was conducted on 627 residents living in a town with a mixed rural-urban population.

Methods: The subjects were divided into 8 groups by job (agricultural and non-agricultural), age (young and old), and gender (male and female). To evaluate the subjects' lifestyles, the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II) was applied.

Applying the social cognitive perspective to volunteer intention in China: the mediating roles of self-efficacy and motivation.

When predicting volunteer intention, much attention is paid to the volunteer organization environment (VOE). Given that self-efficacy and motivation have emerged as important predictors of volunteer intention, we adopted a combination of ideas of Bandura's social cognitive theory and Ajzen's theory of planned behavior integrating VOE, self-efficacy and motivation to examine their effects on volunteer intention and to determine whether self-efficacy and motivation mediate the relationship between VOE and volunteer intention. The subjects of this study consisted of 198 community health volunteers in Shanghai city, China.

Quality of life associated with perceived stigma and discrimination among the floating population in Shanghai, China: a qualitative study.

The floating population refers to the large and increasing number of migrants without local household registration status and has become a new demographic phenomenon in China. Most of these migrants move from the rural areas of the central and western parts of China to the eastern and coastal metropolitan areas in pursuit of a better life. The floating population of China was composed of 121 million people in 2000, and this number was expected to increase to 300 million by 2010.

Description of environmental determinants of quality of life in children with intellectual disability in Japan using the Delphi technique.

Objectives: The present study aimed to define the framework of an environment conducive to the well-being of children with intellectually disability (CID).

Methods: A questionnaire composed of 31 items was developed through literature review. Then a 2-round Delphi survey was conducted with 3 different panels: health professionals (HPs), parents of CID, and teachers.

[Analysis of relationship between birth weight by gestational age and decreasing birth weight in Kumamoto Prefecture, 1979-1997].

Objectives: This study was conducted to investigate possible factors associated with the recent decrease in birth weight in Kumamoto Prefecture between 1979 and 1997.

Methods: Vital statistics on birth between 1979 and 1997 were obtained from the records of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Japan, on the basis of which, infants were divided into low-birth weight (LBW: <2500 g) group and the normal-birth-weight (> or =2500 g) group, and the proportions of birth and birth weights by gestational age (from 22 to 42 weeks) of both groups between 1979 and 1997 were compared.

Results: For the normal-birth-weight group, the peaks of the proportions of birth and birth weights by gestational age in 1997 shifted to early gestation, compared with the peaks in 1979.