Authors
1
Ph.D Student, Student Research Committee, Department of Health Education & Health Promotion, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
2
Associate Professor, Department of Health Education and Health Promotion, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
3
Department of Medical Informatics, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
4
Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
5
Professor, Department of Epidemiology, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
10.22034/meb.2021.302642.1024
Abstract
Background: Lack of physical activity is the leading cause of many diseases such as obesity, weakness of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, and threatens human health. In this study, the physical activity of healthy volunteers was examined using the planned behavior theory and the stages of change structure.
Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 262 female healthy volunteers were selected using a simple random sampling method. A questionnaire with three sections addressing demographic information, structures of the Planned Behavior Theory, and the stages of change structure was used to collect the required data. Moreover, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was used to assess the healthy volunteers’ physical activity. Data analysis was performed with SPSS software (version 16.0). To this end, descriptive statistical tests, Spearman correlation, and Chi-square tests were run.
Results: The healthy participants’ mean age was 40.9±88.66 years. According to IPAQ, 41.6%, 55.7%, and 2.7% of the participants revealed low, moderate, and moderate-high levels of physical activity, respectively. There was a direct and significant correlation between the structures of attitude, mental norms, and control of perceived behavior with physical activity (p <0.05). However, there was no significant correlation between the structures of behavioral intention and physical activity (p>0.05). Furthermore, a significant structural difference was noticed between the stages of change and the level of education among the participants (p <0.001).
Conclusion: The present study highlighted the need to consider a set of effective factors in converting the healthy volunteers’ behaviors to physical activity. The factors can provide the grounds for the development of theory-based educational interventions aimed at promoting physical activity.
Keywords
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