AUTHOR=Moon Ji Hyun , Seo Eunhye 

TITLE=Sense of coherence promotion and occupational and family stress mitigation may improve heart health behaviors in middle-aged working women: a structural equation modelling approach

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1333867

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2024.1333867

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Aims</title><p>This study aimed to construct a model that describes heart health behaviors in middle-aged working women and verify the goodness-of-fit of the model based on Salutogenesis.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Methods and results</title><p>This study adopted a cross-sectional design. Participants were 330 middle-aged working women in South Korea. Data were analyzed using structural equation modelling with Sobel’s Z test. In the multiple mediation model, stress coping strategy (<italic>β</italic> = 0.26; <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001), social support (<italic>β</italic> = 0.41; <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001), and health self-efficacy (<italic>β</italic> = 0.36; <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001) had significant direct effects on sense of coherence (SOC). SOC had a significant direct effect on occupational (<italic>β</italic> = −0.72; <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001) and family stress (<italic>β</italic> = −0.76; <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001). Additionally, SOC (<italic>β</italic> = 0.67; <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001), occupational stress (<italic>β</italic> = −0.46; <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001), and family stress (<italic>β</italic> = −0.28; <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001) had significant direct effects on heart health behaviors. Moreover, SOC had a significantly partial mediating effect on heart health behaviors through occupational stress (<italic>Z</italic> = 3.17; <italic>p</italic> = 0.002) and family stress (<italic>Z</italic> = 2.26; <italic>p</italic> = 0.024).</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Conclusion</title><p>Occupational and family stress mediated the relationship between SOC and heart health behaviors in middle-aged working women.</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Clinical evidence</title><p>Interventions that mitigate occupational and family stress may improve heart health behaviors among middle-aged working women.</p></sec>