Physical Activity Determinants of Female Teachers in Rasht County, Iran; Applying the Social Cognitive Theory

Inactivity among Iranian women is higher than in Iranian men. Since teachers are exposed to occupational damages, it is necessary to consider physical activity in teachers. The Social-Cognitive Theory (SCT) is a useful framework for understanding physical activity behavior. Therefore, the present research was aimed to determine physical activity determinants in female teachers based on SCT.

This analytic-cross sectional study was performed on 612 female schoolteachers of all educational levels of urban and rural areas of Rasht County using multi-stage random sampling in the 2019- 2020 academic years. The data collection instruments included demographic information, International Physical Activity Questionnaire– Short Form, and Social Cognitive Theory Questionnaire. In order to analyze the data, I used Independent Samples t-test, Analysis of Variance, Spearman Correlation Coefficient, and Multiple Linear Regression tests in SPSS 21 software.

The age average of the teachers was 40.25±7.65. Of the total, 331 teachers (54.1%) had light physical activity (0-599 MET minutes/week). It observed the most direct correlation between self-efficacy (r=0.439) and exercise planning (r=0.513) with physical activity behavior. Constructs of exercise Planning (B=0.34, p=0.001) and Self-Efficacy (B=0.14, p=0.003) were the most significant predictors of physical activity and accounted for 17% and 12% of the variance, respectively.

Constructs of exercise Planning and Self-Efficacy were the most important predictors of physical activity that can be used in designing interventions to promote physical activity in teachers.