Effect of an Educational Intervention on the Promotion of Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors in People Referred to Health Centers in Yazd, Iran

Objective:

 Lifestyle is an important component in health education and promotion. The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that currently 60% of deaths worldwide and 80% of deaths in developing countries are due to unhealthy lifestyle. The present study aims to determine the effect of an educational intervention on improving the healthy lifestyle behaviors of people referred to the health centers in Yazd, Iran.

Methods:

 This is a quasi-experimental study conducted in 2017 on 140 men and women aged 18-40 years referred to four health centers in Yazd city, who were selected by a multi-stage random sampling method. They were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. The intervention group received the educational program at three sessions, while the control group received no intervention. The data collection tool was a researcher-made lifestyle questionnaire with acceptable validity and reliability.  The questionnaire was completed before, immediately after, and three months after the intervention by both groups. Data were analyzed in SPSS software, version 16 using descriptive statistics and analytical tests.

Results:

 Immediately after the intervention, there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in knowledge, attitude, and enabling factors (P<0.05), but the score of health-promoting behaviors was not significantly different (P=0.063). Three months after the intervention, there was a significant difference in the scores of knowledge, attitude, enabling factors, and health-promoting behavior between the two groups (P<0.001).

Conclusion:

 The educational intervention is effective in promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors of people in Yazd, Iran.