Managing Lifestyle Illnesses in Pacific Island States: The Case of Fiji, Kiribati, and Nauru
The Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile was used to compare health promoting behaviors in three groups of chronically ill people being treated as outpatients at clinics and hospitals in Fiji, Nauru, and Kiribati. Significant differences were found in practices and attitudes among the groups with regard to health responsibility, physical activity, nutrition, and stress management. The Nauruan and I-Kiribati groups in general demonstrated lower motivation toward health maintenance than did the Fijian group. These differences are most probably due to geographic isolation, lack of natural and fiscal resources, reaction to a traditional society caught in fast-paced modernization, and in the Nauruan case, a fatalism about their unique economic and public health situation.
Keywords: Lifestyle illness, Pacific region, Diabetes, Public health education
Dr. Philip Szmedra
Assistant Professor, Department of History and Political Science, Georgia Southwestern State University
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Kl Sharma
Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics, University of the South Pacific
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Cathy L. Rozmus
Vice President for Academic Affairs, Georgia Southwestern State University
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Ref: S05P0043