Health-promoting self-care behaviors, self-care self-efficacy, and self-care agency.

The relationships among health-promoting self-care behaviors, self-care self-efficacy, and self-care agency were investigated. The purpose of the study reported here was to explore conceptual integration that could be useful in determining interventions that enhance self-care agency. The sample consisted of 379 adult subjects. The instrumentation scales included: Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II, Self-Rated Abilities for Health Practices, and Exercise of Self-Care Agency. A canonical correlation identified a significant variate with a correlation of .76 (p < .001) accounting for 58% of the variance explained. The loading variables included: spiritual growth, self-concept, initiative, and responsibility. Therefore, spiritual growth was more strongly related to self-care agency than self-efficacy.