Investigating the effect of education on the level of physical activity of female health workers in Mashhad's comprehensive health service centers in 1398

Sedentary lifestyle, poor mobility and decrease physical activity in people are considered as the consequences of mechanical life in the present century. As to the national studies, women are healthier than men in most areas. Regarding the important role of health system staff, especially health workers in the first level of referral, this study aimed to investigate the effect of education based on trans theoretical model and using the construct of stages of behavior change on the level of physical activity in female health workers of comprehensive rural health service centers in Mashhad 1 in 1398.

In the present quasi-experimental study, 62 female (middle-aged) health workers working in health center number one in Mashhad were studied, of which 31 were assigned to the intervention group and 31 to the control group. Data were collected using The International Short-Term Physical Activity Questionnaire and the Marcus Questionnaire. Following data collection, the intervention group underwent educational intervention using the lecture-question and answer method. SPSS software version 21 was used for data analysis.

The results showed no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of levels of physical activity and stages of behavior change before the training course (P> 0.05), but a significant difference was found between the two groups following the training course. (P <0.05).

The results of the present study showed that training using the meta-theoretical model and stages of behavior change construct can improve the level of physical activity of employees to higher levels. Therefore, it can be effective in educational planning to promote physical activity behaviors in employees.