Understanding self-rated health: Examining the mediating effect of self-efficacy

Understanding self-rated health (i.e., individuals' perception of their health status) is essential because it not only serves as a reliable and valid indicator of population and individual health, but also provides an important basis to formulate health policies and to evaluate the effectiveness of these policies (Salomon et al., 2009). Drawing on the social cognitive theory and its notion of the generative capacity of self-efficacy (Bandura, 1986), the purpose of this study was two-fold: (1) to identify the factors associated with self-efficacy to manage one's health and (2) to examine the mediating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between those factors and individuals' self-rated health. Data for this study were obtained through the International Studies to Investigate Global Health Information Trends program. Eleven hundred adult Hong Kong residents participated in an online survey. Findings reveal that mastery experience, online vicarious experience, emotional state, and perceived knowledge indirectly influence self-rated health through self-efficacy. This study contributes to the understanding of the intricate cognitive mechanisms involved in individuals' subjective health assessment. Furthermore, for professionals who design health messages and interventions and for health policymakers, our findings can be informative to improve self-rated health through self-efficacy and its associated factors of self-health management.

了解自评健康 (即个体对自身健康状况的认知) 至关重要, 因为它不仅是人口和个人健康状况的可靠有效指标, 也是制定健康政策和评估其有效性的重要依据(Salomon et al., 2009)。基于社会认知理论及其关于自我效能感生成能力的概念(Bandura, 1986), 本研究的目的有两个:1)识别与管理个人健康的自我效能感相关的因素；2)分析自我效能感在这些因素与个体自评健康的关系中的中介作用。本研究使用的数据来自“全球健康信息趋势国际研究”项目。1100名香港成年居民参与了一项网络调查。研究结果表明, 掌握经验、网络替代经验、情绪状态和感知知识会通过自我效能感间接影响自评健康。本研究有助于理解个体主观健康评估中的复杂认知机制。此外, 对于设计健康信息和干预措施的专业人员以及卫生政策制定者而言, 我们的研究结果能提供参考, 以通过自我效能感及其相关的自我健康管理因素来改善自评健康。