Abstract

The health education for elementary school students is a very important factor in the development of adult health practices. Particularly, eyesight is difficult to recover if lost. Therefore, prevention is better than cure. This study was conducted to investigate the factors that affect the visual health behavior of elementary school students and to furnish basic materials and directions for the promotion of elementary school health. The investigation was carried out for 4 days from 9. 18. 2000 to 9. 21. 2000 for 199 children in 3 elementary schools. A questionnaire was composed of 3 questions about general property, 20 questions about visual health behavior, 7 questions about visual self-efficacy, 5 questions about visual motivation, 16 questions about self-conception, 20 questions about the health locus of control. The data was analysed by an SAS program for t-test, ANOVA, correlation, and multiple regression tests. The results are as follows. 1. The visual health behavior of elementary school children was good (average 52.53). 2. For visual health behavior, school, year, and sex were influential factors, economic levels were not. 3. Visual health behavior had a significant correlation with visual self-efficacy, visual health motives and self-conception, but not with the locus of control. 4. In the multiple regression test, visual self-efficacy and self-conception were significant prediction factors -- the suitability of the regression model was 30.8%. Suggestions from the results are as follows: First, school year and sex had a significant influence on visual health behavior; therefore, it is necessary to consider these two factors when education programs are developed. Second, this study was carried out for students in a partial area only. Therefore, repeated studies for a large sample are necessary for the future.