Health-promoting behaviors and quality of life among individuals with multiple sclerosis.

Chronic conditions have profound and pervasive effects on the quality of life of millions of Americans (USDHHS, 1991). The estimated one-quarter million Americans with MS face a unique set of stressors and challenges as they seek to adapt to a chronic illness with an unknown cause, few medical therapies, and an uncertain prognosis that almost always includes some degree of functional disability (Wasserman, 1988). The purpose of this study was to explore factors related to performance of health-promoting behaviors and to examine the relationship between the practice of health-promoting behaviors and perceived quality of life for individuals with MS. A general conceptual model was used as a framework for exploring the relationships among antecedent variables (demographic/disease factors, barriers, resources, perceptual factors), health-promoting behaviors, and perceived quality of life with a convenience sample of 61 individuals with MS. Analyses supported a hypothesized relationship between health-promoting behaviors and quality of life. Subsequent research with larger samples is needed to clearly address the relative strength and path of variables in the proposed model.