INVESTIGATION OF LIFE CHANGE EVENTS, HOPE AND SELF-CARE AGENCY IN INNER CITY ADOLESCENTS.
Contributors: University of Miami.
Published: 1993
Number of pages: 260
Subjects: Health Sciences, Nursing.; Education, Health.; Sociology, Ethnic and Racial Studies.
Description: This descriptive correlational study investigated relationships among life change events, hope and self-care agency in inner city adolescents within the theoretical framework of Orem's (1991) Self-Care Deficit Theory of Nursing. The sample included 202 male and female adolescents from 13 to 19 years of age, volunteers from a traditional and an alternative high school in Miami, Florida. The four instruments used in the study were: (a) the Adolescent Life Change Events Questionnaire (ALCEQ), (b) the Miller Hope Scale (MHS), (c) the Denyes Self-Care Agency Instrument (DSCAI), and (d) a Demographic and General Information Questionnaire, developed by the investigator. Descriptive statistics, Pearson product-moment correlation, partial correlation, t-test, Chi square and multiple regression analysis were used as the major statistical methods to describe the population, to test the hypotheses and to describe differences between groups.

The results of this study demonstrated that there was no significant relationship found between life change events and self-care agency. However, when hope was introduced as a control variable, there was a significant correlation found between life change events and the valuing of health, one of the self-care agency subscales. The greater the number of life change events experienced by the adolescents, the less they valued health. A major finding of this study was the significant positive relationship found between hope and self-care agency. The magnitude and significance of the correlation remained the same when life change events was introduced as a control variable.

Stepwise multiple regression analysis findings indicated that the adolescents' degree of hope, rating of their health, and the type of school they were attending were significant predictors of self-care agency. Other social and demographic factors such as age, sex, grade, academic standing, birth order, household size and income did not influence self-care agency.
Notes: Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-06, Section: B, page: 2992.

Thesis (PH.D.)--UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI, 1993.

School code: 0125.