The Effects of Lifestyle Interventions on the Health-Promoting Behavior, Type D Personality, Cognitive Function and Body Composition of Low-Income Middle-Aged Korean Women

Abstract

Low-income middle-aged women (LMW) who are vulnerable have various physical and psychosocial problems. They need lifestyle interventions to actively cope with these risk factors. This study used a randomized control group pretest-posttest design. LMW aged from 40 to 60 years were recruited and randomly assigned to an experimental group (n = 31) and a control group (n = 32). The lifestyle interventions for this study, which were implemented for eight weeks, included nutritional management, physical activity, stress management and cognitive function improvement based on King’s goal attainment theory. The measured outcomes were health-promoting behaviors, Type D personality, cognitive function and body composition. The experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group for health-promoting behaviors (effect size (ES) = 0.68~1.27, p < 0.001~0.014) and cognitive function (ES = 0.79~1.31, p < 0.001~0.005). The negative affectivity (ES = 0.70, p = 0.012) and the prevalence of a Type D personality (x2 = 4.39, p = 0.047) and the systolic blood pressure (ES = 0.65, p = 0.019) decreased significantly in the experimental group compared with the control group. Lifestyle interventions for LMW were effective in improving health-promoting behavior, Type D personality traits and cognitive function.