| Summary: | 碩士 === 大仁科技大學 === 製藥科技研究所 === 104 === Rapid growth of communication technology brought the human society efficient and convenient life, with a price of deteriorating eye sight caused by overwhelmingly use of image devises. This health problem has prevailed throughout the world today. Serious eye diseases became common, of which can be attributed to overly or improper use of eyes. Some conventional age-related eye diseases had now been found in the youth generation. Literature generally suggests that the macular pigment can only be obtained from the diet. In the meantime, there is a high association between the levels of lutein and Zeaxanthin taken from the diet and the risk levels of eye diseases. Given the daily diet may not be able to provide sufficient Lutein and Zeaxanthin to protect eyes, to intake nutrient such as Lutein and Zeaxanthin from nutritional supplements will be a wise alternative. AREDSII has also revealed that nutritional supplement provides reliable shield for eyes by increasing the density of Lutein and Zeaxanthin in blood. Based on the health believe model, this research attempts to explore into the respondents’ perceive threats toward the threats of eye diseases, and the perceived benefits toward lutein as a preventive measure. To the last, this research attempts to reveal how the respondents’ perception of threats and benefits can affect the lutein intake behavior. Five hypotheses were concluded for testing in this research. A questionnaire was derived from a depth interviews. Items included in the questionnaire has successfully passed the item-to-total analysis with acceptable reliability level, Cronbach’s α=0.7. 1075 valid samples were gathered for testing. Statistical techniques applied for the testing are descriptive statistics, t-test, One-way analysis of variance, Chi-square test, and regression analysis. Test results indicated that compare to the perceived severity, perceived susceptibility was significantly weak. Respondents’ perceived threats toward eye diseases, perceived benefits and barriers toward lutein supplement, and lutein intake behavior varied along with certain demographic factors, such as occupation, educational levels, and work places. Independent variables can explain 25% of variance with the perceived benefit (.49) as the major predictor of lutein intake, and followed by perceived barrier (-.19) and susceptibility (.08). Findings from the current research were consistent to the previous research, thus confirmed that the Health Belief Model as a theory was applicable in the research of the behavior of taking lutein as a preventive measure of eye diseases. The current research suggested to promote the benefits of lutein intake may help strengthen people’s willingness to gain these specific nutrients from daily diet. Research results can be a useful reference for the lutein suppliers as well as the public health agencies while conducting preventive campaigns on eyes and eye-sight.
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