Health behaviour of young people in the age of adolescence with craniofacial birth defects

Praca recenzowana / peer-reviewed paperHealth behaviors are one of the factors determining human health. They arise in the course of individual development, as a result of various life events that cause behavioral changes, and over the life under the influence of different factors are many changes. The period of adolescence is the time that decides whether a young person will make in their adult life resources, or rather the risks of many diseases. Aim of the study. Aim of this study was to assess the health behavior of young people aged 16–19 years who due to defects in craniofacial. Materials and methods. The study was conducted in 2011, included 100 patients aged 16–19 years treated for congenital malformations in craniofacial (cleft lip and / or palate) in the Specialist Medical Centre in Polanica Zdroj in the Department of Plastic Surgery Medical University. Were persons with unilateral cleft (40%) and bilateral (60%). The study was carried out by using a diagnostic survey questionnaire copyright. To develop the numerical and graphical results used Microsoft Office Excel 2007. Results. The study included 100 participants: 50 boys and 50 girls. These were mostly rural dwellers (38%), medium (24%) and small cities (22%). The financial situation of the respondents were in their assessment of good (60%) and very good (10%), only 4% rated it as poor. Obesity was found in 8% of respondents. Much of the youth has a health risk behaviors. These relate to inadequate nutrition (daily eats brown bread only 32%, cheese 36% and 36% raw vegetables and sweets eats up about 50% of respondents), smoking (14% of girls and 20% boys from 6-10 cigarettes a day), alcohol (17% of girls and 28% boys drink alcohol several times a week) and being good with stress. Despite this, respondents recognize the value of health and are interested in the strengthening. 50% of boys and 60% of girls would like to change something about your appearance. Conclusions. Youth declares its willingness to care for the health. The source of knowledge about the health of the subjects was often the medical staff (56%), of which the young people have frequent contact during subsequent visits to the hospital. It is worrying that adolescence speak of a lack of trust in relation to adults, and a sense of inability to get help and support from them in difficult situations. The study youth requires regular health education, particularly in the development of certain habits and health behaviors and the acquisition of skills to cope with difficult situations. Key words: health behavior, the period of adolescence, craniofacial defect