Factors Influencing the Perception and its Impact on Self-rated Health: A Cross-sectional Survey

INTRODUCTION

Self-rated health (SRH) is a simple and easy-to-administer measure of general health. It is a valid and reliable measure among those without cognitive impairment. Initially, it replaced clinical assessments in survey research.^[1-3] It is commonly used in psychological research, clinical settings, and general population surveys.^[4] SRH is typically measured as a single item, the most common wording of which is “In general, how would you say your health is?”, with the response items: “excellent,” “very good,” “good,” “fair,” or “poor.” Early studies using SRH involved assessing the relationship between SRH and sociodemographic, physical health, and psychosocial variables. Additional uses of SRH involve investigating relationships between health constructs, sociodemographic, physical, and psychosocial variables, clarifying measurement issues, attempting to explain health and illness behavior, or describing populations’ health. SRH was found to be at least moderately associated with physicians’ assessments of health.^[5,6]

SRH allows respondents to prioritize and evaluate different aspects of their health, maximizing the measure’s sensitivity to respondents’ views of health. SRH’s somewhat abstract nature also allows researchers to examine the cognitive processes involved in evaluating self-health.^[3,7,8]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the variables affecting the participants’ assessments of their health. Recent research has shown that SRH is essential for diagnosing and treating disorders such as cancer, obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. It is a useful assessment tool for clinicians who can use it to manage the health conditions of their patients with an accurate understanding and assessment of the health parameters, as well as the health-conscious population, which includes people with demanding lifestyles, high levels of stress, and demanding work schedules. SRH is thus employed as a technique to more accurately assess and comprehend health to enhance health status, health literacy, and the impact of lifestyle determinants. Recent years, it has shown to be a useful and significant new tool for health assessment.

A complex relationship exists between SRH and health-related behaviors. Health-related behaviors included in SRH studies often include smoking status, dietary assessments, physical activity, body mass index (BMI) or presence of obesity, and alcohol activity.^[9] Often, these health behaviors are included as covariates rather than explanations or outcome variables.^[10-12] Likewise, health-related behaviors have been used as control variables in studies exploring SRH and mortality. Health behaviors have been shown to mediate the relationship between SRH and mortality and this effect often differs by gender and/or duration of effect. Other studies, however, have only seen a fairly weak mediating influence of health behaviors on SRH and mortality.^[13] Some studies have found only weak or irrelevant associations with SRH.^[14,15] There have been contradictory findings concerning SRH and all smoking, alcohol-related behaviors, and dietary behaviors.^[16]

The study used a feasible and convenient sampling method to assess knowledge and factors among adults and the elderly.^[16]

MATERIAL AND METHODS

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The study examined the responses obtained from the participants and a correlation was determined to exist between the factors influencing their daily patterns of living as well as the ratings of their health. This study was evaluated to check the impact of health literacy on one’s health. Our study consisted of 47 questions that were divided into seven different sections, the factors on which the self-rating was found to be dependent. The questionnaire included and took into account sociodemographic and economic details, the work profile, the self-health rating question, health literacy and physical activity, dietary factors, sleeping patterns, stress factors, comorbidities, additional nutrition, medication adherence, and self and doctor’s prescriptions. With a keen assessment of the responses and the result, we evaluated the knowledge of health among the participants and found that not all the answers were correctly answered in the “Health Literacy” sections.^[34]

The parameters and the respondent’s answers were compared and correlated, and they were found to be two-tailed and significantly correlated using Pearson’s correlation.

A few parameters were not correlated, whereas more than 22 factors were found to be correlated. A few factors were not found to be significant or correlated with the health rating questionnaire. These were found to be bizarre questions with no or little correlation.

Most of the responders did not correctly answer the questions in the literacy knowledge part, which was the reason for the lack of or nil correlation.

In our study, with a total population or sample size of 806, the gender classification was done and found to be: Females (423) and males (383). The age had a negative correlation value (−0.81*). The self-rating of the health of the responders was classified into five different ranges [Table 2] and demographic features [Table 3] were expressed.

Various responses from the responders are represented in [Figures 1 and 2].

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Figure 1:

Graphical representation of (a) health response rating, (b) sleep quality, (c) self-medication doctors’recommendation, and (d) weight and height relationship-body mass index of responders.

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Figure 2:

Graphical representation of (a) health literacy, (b) perceived ideal versus. sleep duration, (c) side effects due to any medications, (d) surrounding hygiene, (e) stress and exhaustion of whole day, (f) physical activity, (g) perceived stress/tension/anxiety, (h) medications prescribed for any illness, and (i) medication adherence of the responses from the responders.

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CONCLUSION

The study has now provided evidence on what factors influence an individual’s self-rating and how these factors correlate to influence each other on the same platform. Self-rating health is one of the most reliable, responsive, valid, and accurate tools for the clinical assessment of any underlying disease and it has also proven to be a reliable tool for knowing the patient’s health condition and even his or her slightest discomfort. Promoting good healthcare practices can bring drastic changes to the health facilities of a society, which can improve health and also increase the overall global impact on the health of the society and its population.