Predicting physical activity behavior among Iranian medical college students using the transtheoretical model

Nowadays، the importance of physical activity as a health promoting behavior has been well documented. The purpose of this study was prediction of transtheorical model (TTM) ’s constructs on regular physical activity among medical students. This study was a descriptive-analytic research that carried out on 307 medical students at Shahed University using census method in 2011. The instruments of data collection were demographic and standard scale of seven-day physical activity recall (PAR)، and benefits scale & barriers scale. The TTM guided instrument development. Collected data was analyzed using SPSS version 16. The findings of descriptive statistics showed that mean age of students was 22. 28 years (SD = 2. 6) and 69. 4% of participants were women. Mean of weekly physical activity in all of the students was 175. 17 minutes، SD: 172. 04، but in men a little more than women. The finding of analytic statistics showed that regression analysis predict that if 1 score increase to total scores of benefits caused 7 scores in addition to total scores of physical activity and 1 score increase to total scores of barriers caused 12 scores decrease to total scores of physical activity. Those findings and using TTM constructs will help practitioners for intervention and to improve the physical activity among university students.