Effect of Faith-based Education on Physical Activity on the Elderly

In order to improve the motivation and attitude of the elderly for regular and continuous physical activity, it is inevitable to use methods and models of effective education. Spiritual doctrine can improve the elderly's motivation for activity increase. This study was performed to assess the effect of faith-based education on physical activity and compare that with routine education (non faith- based) on the elderly in 2011.

A quasi-experimental field trial study was done on a number of the elderly of Isfahan pensioners in two random groups: control) 53 sample) and experiment (45 sample). The educational content was prepared in two kinds of faith- based and routine education. The researcher-made questionnaire whicht was derived from a valid questionnaire _ physical activity scale for elderly (PASE) _ was used to estimate the elderly's physical activity before and after the educational intervention in the two groups.

Before the educational intervention, the physical activity score for the experiment group was 873.15±197.98 and for the control group, it was 864.15±269.85, which were not statistically significant (P=0.853). After the intervention, the score for the experiment group was 944.09± 262.88 and for the control group, it was 930.60±259.03.This showed a statistically significant differences. (P =0.043 in the experiment group and P=0.045 in the control group), but despite a little difference, there was statistically no significant differences between the groups.

The level of elderlies physical activity improved after two kinds of education and faith based teaching hadnt obvious differences in outcome than routine education.