Gemeinschaftsmedizin und Gesundheitserziehung

Abstrakt

Beliefs and Attitudes Regarding Determinants of Health in Turkey and Palestine

Menawi WA

Health is a result of the cultural pigment of the individual and community beliefs and attitudes which in turn is affected by the environmental, social and political conditions. A comparative survey study on the beliefs and attitudes of citizens in both Palestine and Turkey regarding determinants of health and health promotion factors has been conducted. For a representative sample, stratified random sampling has been distributed on (4100) citizens as a total 1,500 in (Nablus) Palestine and 2,600 in (Ankara) Turkey between July 2013 and March 2014. Then data has been entered into SPSS 18,0 programs, to get frequency distributions and descriptive analysis. The result of analysis pointed out attitudes and beliefs of citizens regarding factors affect health and health promotion with statistically significant differences (p <0.05) between Palestinian and Turkish Citizens. As Turkish citizens believe that smoking with a rate of (83.2%), stress (78.8%), health care services (65.7%), nutrition and exercise (64%) frame the most influential factors on their health. In the same study, Turkish participants believe that reducing poverty, unemployment, cigarette consumption, air pollution and improving the sheltering quality will improve their health. In the other location of the study, Palestinians believe that reducing the rate of poverty, unemployment, pollution, cigarette consumption, and violence play a role in improving the health of the public. In conclusion, the participants’ answers revealed factors that affect health among the citizens which in turn reflect the social and political circumstances they live under. Therefore, this study pictures the effect of political and socio-economic factors in shaping beliefs and attitudes of the individuals and communities. Thus, the related health behaviour necessarily reflects the importance of an integration of political, social and economic systems. As a result, these systems are considered to be a primary pillar in setting up our country’s health agenda to improve health and limit the inequality in providing health services to citizens.