The effect of clinic-based health promotion education on perceived health status and health promotion behaviors of adolescent and young adult cancer survivors.

More than 70% of children/adolescents diagnosed with cancer are long-term survivors. Little is known about the health perceptions and practices of this population, and limited previous studies have come exclusively from a risk reduction/health protection model rather than a health promotion model. This study was conducted to describe the perceived health status and health-promoting behaviors of adolescent/young adult cancer survivors. This study used Pender's revised health promotion model; perceived health status and health-promoting behaviors were measured using the General Health Index (GHRI) and the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP-II). The sample consisted of 60 cancer survivors 2 years after completion of cancer treatment and attending a survivorship clinic. Mean baseline scores for the GHRI (76.66; SD, 10.41) indicate perceived health status is positive and similar to normative (noncancer survivor) adolescent/young adult samples. Surprisingly, there was no correlation between scores on the GHRI and the HPLP-II in this sample (r = 0.03).