Development of a health promotion inventory for poor rural women

This article describes the development of a first-generation inventory tool to assess the health and health promotion behaviors of poor, rural women in Alabama. Women in southern rural regions are especially vulnerable, bearing and raising children in single-parent households. It is unlikely that this region will ever have adequate health care resources. Thus, it is imperative that rural dwellers be self-sufficient, yet have available to them a culturally relevant, accessible, and appropriate health care delivery system that fits within the context of their lives. The study used an ethnographic strategy to elicit low-income women's views of health and health promotion. A central descriptive process used by these women was identified as ''being able to do for oneself and one's family.'' Major themes were rural wisdom, our own and others needs, and health habits. The second stage of this study was developing an instrument based on 17 subthemes. Findings from initial pilot testing of the instrument suggest that distinctions between health promotion and health maintenance may be more meaningful to health care professionals than to the women themselves. Further, for individuals with a chronic, asymptomatic illness, adhering to treatment recommendations may be akin to health promotion behaviors.