Abstract:
Nutritional health-promotion behavior is a significant strategy that lead to improve health for all people.This predictive correlational research aimed to identify the factors predicting nutritional health-promotion behavior of Thai Muslims. Participants of the study were 280 Thai Muslims in Bangnampriao district, Chachoengsao province who were recruited based on multistage random sampling. Data were collected in March, 2017 using questionnaires including nutritional health-promotion behavior, perceived benefits of action, perceived barriers to action, perceived interpersonal influences, and situational influences. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and multiple regressions. The results revealed that the majority of sample were female with ages ranged from 20 to 70 years (M = 44.67, SD =12.34), elementary education level, and no disease. The perception of physical health was rated at a good level. The overall and three elements of nutritional health-promotion behavior, including the safety food consumption, the variety foods consumption, and the healthy food consumption, were rated at high levels. The unhealthy food avoidance was rated at moderate level. Results also indicated that perceived benefits of action (β = .239, p< .001), age (β = .233, p< .001), perceived interpersonal influences, (β = .226, p< .001) and perceived barriers to action (β = -.186, p< .001) could explain the variation of the nutritional health-promotion behavior of Thai Muslims by 26.8%. Results suggest that community nurse practitioners and other health providers should pay more attention to improving nutritional health-promotion behavior of Thai Muslims. They should promote perceived benefits of action and also reduce perceived barriers to action, encourage families, friends, and the Muslim community member to provide information, compliments and role models.