Importance Measurement and Moderating Effect of Influencing Factors for Proactive Health in Undergraduates

Background Undergraduates, as the backbone of the youth group and highly educated members of the family and society, had a strong radiating function on the health of the whole population. Undergraduates have good health awareness but poor health behaviors, and the realization of proactive health among undergraduates faces a series of challenges that require conceptual change and action support. Objective To study the influencing factors of proactive health of undergraduates and provide suggestions for health education in colleges and universities. Methods A total of 4 036 undergraduates from 6 universities in Shandong Province were selected by stratified cluster sampling method to conduct a questionnaire survey on proactive health by using self-designed questionnaires (including general information questionnaires and proactive health scales). Pearson correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were used for the analysis of factors affecting proactive health, and the importance of influencing factors was analyzed using random forest metrics. Results The proactive health score of undergraduates was 24.61±4.65 score. Females had higher active health scores than males, while lower grade undergraduates had higher proactive health scores than higher grade (P<0.05). IncNodePurity of health responsibility, health publicity, parent-child relationship and health investment were 32 491.77, 13 331.00, 10 051.22 and 9 902.84, respectively. Health publicity (β=0.024, 95%CI=0.039-0.171, P<0.001), health communication needs (β=0.026, 95%CI=0.043-0.145, P<0.001), curriculum practice activities (β=0.033, 95%CI=0.069-0.167, P<0.001), desired state (β=0.033, 95%CI=0.008-0.019, P<0.001), and diet (β=0.019, 95%CI=0.027-0.161, P<0.001) positively regulated the relationship between health responsibility and proactive health. Conclusion Health responsibility was the key factor affecting proactive health. Health publicity, health communication needs, curriculum practice activities, desired state and diet have positive interaction with health responsibility, which enhance individual proactive health. It is suggested to form diversified health promotion relationships by creating an active ecological environment of proactive health, building classroom, performing extracurricular and self-practice education mode, and improving initiatives to promote proactive health such as synergy path of health policy.