Effectiveness of an Interpersonal Influence Intervention to Increase Commitment to Adopt Health-Promoting Behavior in Nursing Students

Abstract

Purpose

To determine the efficacy of the “interpersonal influence intervention” conducted by health professionals to increase the commitment to adopt health-promoting behavior in nursing students compared to the usual care of a university wellness program.

Patients and Methods

A quasi-experimental study was performed. The study included 114 nursing students from a university in Cali, Colombia, who were divided into a control group (n = 57) that received usual care and an experimental group (n = 57) that received the intervention designed and validated according to Nola Pender’s Health Promotion Model. The main outcome was the lifestyle measured before and after the test using the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II Spanish version. The effect of the intervention was carried out through the average comparison, effect size measures were calculated using Cohen’s d and analysis of the effect of possible confounding variables on the intervention (ANCOVA).

Results

A statistically significant difference was observed between the experimental group and the control group (p = 0.015; 95% CI −0.42, −0.05). The effect size of the intervention was 0.49. The interpersonal influences exhibited by health professionals can increase the commitment to adopt health-promoting behaviors (Hypothesis 1), and the greater the commitment to a specific action plan, the more likely it is that health-promoting behaviors will be maintained over time (Hypothesis 2).

Conclusion

The effectiveness of the intervention interpersonal influences exerted by health professionals to increase the commitment to adopt health-promoting behavior is proven. Evidence demonstrates the practical utility of the Health Promotion Model.

Keywords:

• healthy lifestyle
• health promotion
• students’ health
• interpersonal relations

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the cooperation of the health sciences students and their participation in this study.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the project “Fortalecimiento grupo de investigación cuidado de la Salud”, grant No. 441-62122-3507, funded by Dirección General de Investigaciones of Universidad Santiago de Cali.