A Study on the effect of lifestyle educational intervention based on the theory of planned behavior on promoting quality of life of middle-aged women

Abstract

The present study aimed to determine the effect of lifestyle educational intervention based on the theory of planned behavior on promoting the quality of life of middle-aged women. The present quasi-experimental study examined 80 middle-aged women and randomly divided them into two groups (intervention and control). Data collection tools included the demographic information questionnaire, the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II), the 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-12), and the author-developed questionnaire based on constructs of the theory of planned behavior. Data were collected via WhatsApp twice (before and three months after the educational intervention). Five 45-minute training sessions were held for the intervention group and a 60-minute session for a family member regarding physical activity and spiritual growth over two months via WhatsApp. Data were analyzed using SPSS, and the results were considered significant at a statistical level (p < .05). The implementation of the educational intervention significantly increased the mean scores of quality of life, physical activity and spiritual growth, knowledge regarding physical activity and spiritual growth, attitude toward physical activity and spiritual growth, subjective norms toward spiritual growth, perceived behavioral control for physical activity, and behavioral intention to perform physical activity and spiritual growth in the intervention group in comparison with the control group. The educational intervention, which was designed based on constructs of the theory of planned behavior, was influential in promoting the lifestyles and quality of life of middle-aged women. Therefore, it is suggested to use the educational program of the present study in addition to other middle-age health care.

Keywords:

• Educational intervention
• health-promoting lifestyle
• middle-aged women
• quality of life
• theory of planned behavior

Acknowledgments

Would like to thank Vice-Chancellor of Research and Technology and [Vice-Chancellor of Education of Urmia University of Medical Sciences, supervisors and personnel of 24-hour Comprehensive health services center of Bazargan city, as well as all the individuals who participated in this study.

Ethics approval

All methods of this study were carried out in accordance with the Helsinki declaration. The ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Research Ethics Committee of the Vice-Chancellor of Research and Technology of Urmia University of Medical Sciences (IR.UMSU.REC.1399.239). Written informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Author contributions

All authors were involved in the preparation of this manuscript. M. Maheria and Sh. Kamalian initiated the study and conducted the conception and design of the study. A. Didarloo and M. Maheria were responsible for the definition of intellectual content and literature search. M. Maheria, Sh. Kamalian, and H. R. Khalkhali contributed to the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data. M. Maheria and Sh. Kamalian wrote and drafted the manuscript and A. Didarloo and H. R. Khalkhali reviewed and edited the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Notes

1 It is necessary to explain that the individual referring to the two urban health posts were almost at the same level in terms of socio-economic status; therefore, the health post was considered the criterion for selecting the intervention and control groups.

2 Based on the findings of a cross-sectional study conducted as a pilot study on 150 middle-aged women in Bazargan city with the aim of determining the relationship between health-promoting lifestyle dimensions and QoL by the research team of the present quasi-experimental study, physical activity, and spiritual growth were, respectively, the most effective predictors of QoL for middle-aged women in Bazargan among six dimensions of health-promoting lifestyle, and each of them, independent of the influence of other factors, had a positive and statistically significant relationship with QoL. Therefore, the two dimensions were selected for intervention, and an author-developed questionnaire was designed based on the constructs of the TPB for the two dimensions and measured its validity and reliability (Kamalian et al., 2021).

Additional information

Funding

This study drawn from a master’s thesis in Health education & Promotion and supported by funding from the Vice-Chancellor of Research and Technology of Urmia University of Medical Sciences [grant no. 10298]. The funder of study had no role in the study design, data collection, data analysis, data interpretation, and preparation of the manuscript.