Traditional Yangsaeng oriental health promotion in patients with cardiovascular disease

Background: A traditional Korean health behavior regimen, 'Yangsaeng' is an ancient Chinese concept that incorporates health promoting behaviours. Aim: The purpose of this study was to test a hypothesized model that identified the effects of activity status, internal health locus of control, and resilience on Yangsaeng among patients with cardiovascular disease. Methods: Secondary data were utilized in this study. Originally, 543 Korean patients with cardio-vascular disease were recruited from general hospitals, although only 532 were included in this study. Path analysis was performed using AMOS 17.0. Results: Resilience was significantly associated with and accounted for 37% of the variance in Yangsaeng. Activity status and internal health locus of control were significantly associated with and accounted for 4% of the variance in resilience. Limitations: Given the cross-sectional data used, the sequencing and/or direction of the relationships found remains uncertain. There may be complex interactions that were not considered. Conclusions: These results suggest that enhancing resilience is essential to foster a health-promoting lifestyle that helps prevent the recurrence of cardio-vascular disease. Implications for nursing and health policy: Nurse development of a Yangsaeng program for patients with cardiovascular disease may be a useful means of enhancing resilience in western as well as eastern cultures. This will help such patients to recognize the health benefits of improving their resilience through heightened activity levels and adopting an internal health locus of control.