Health Education and Health Promotion

Abstract Aims: Despite the advantages of physical activity, many people still don't exercise much. The study aimed to examine the impact of intervention mapping model-based training on the health-promoting behaviors of Ilam University of Medical Sciences employees.
Materials & Methods: In this semi-experimental study, 221 Ilam University of Medical Sciences staff were given Walker's health-promoting lifestyle questionnaire to determine their needs. Then, a training program was created to increase staff physical activity levels based on the efficient structures. Sixty Ilam University of Medical Sciences employees who scored lowest on the physical activity dimension participated in the educational intervention phase. Participants received the international physical activity questionnaire before and three months after the intervention. Data analysis was done using SPSS 22 software by independent t-test, paired t-test, Pearson correlation coefficient, one-way analysis of variance, and generalized linear regression.
Findings: Among the health-promoting lifestyle dimensions, the physical activity dimension was identified as the most important predictor of health-promoting behaviors. There were significant differences before and after the educational intervention in the housework and family care and the average physical activity (p<0.05). The average total physical activity increased significantly after the educational intervention compared to before the intervention (p<0.016).
Conclusion: The mapping model education improves physical activity levels in medical university staff.

Abstract Aims: This study aimed to determine the relationship between the constructs of Health Belief Model (HBM) and doing daily exercise to prevent cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) among the employees of Ilam University of medical sciences in Iran.
Instrument & Methods: About 294 employees of Ilam University of medical sciences participated in this cross-sectional study after providing a written consent form in 2017. The tool to collect data was an HBM-ISCS questionnaire, which was applied. Eventually, the obtained data were analyzed using SPSS 16 and logistic regression.
Findings: The results showed that 72.4% of participants did not exercise daily, and the Mean±SD of their daily exercise was 8.08±1.51min. Logistic regression showed that the possibility of daily exercise per unit of increase in perceived barriers decreased by about 10%, while every unit of increase in the self-efficacy score resulted in the possibility of 1.12 times more doing daily exercise. The possibility of doing daily exercise among men was 2 times more than in women, and among the personnel of financial/administrative department, it was about 2.5 times more than in the employees of health care department. Accordingly, the possibility of doing exercise decreased by about 8% per unit of increase in work experience.
Conclusion: The amount of doing daily exercise among the participants of this study was low, and implementing interventions commensurate with the results of this study and based on HBM can be effective in improving the amount of doing daily exercise in them.

Abstract Aims: Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) are the main causes of death and have the first place among other diseases throughout the world. Studying the situation of risk factors for CVDs seems necessary in Iran at various periods. The aim of this study was to determine risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) among the employees of Ilam University of Medical Sciences in order to design appropriate educational interventions.
Materials and Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study, which was conducted in 2017, 294 employees of Ilam University of Medical Sciences participated after presenting written consent forms. To collect data, a researcher-made questionnaire was designed and applied after verifying the validity and reliability (Cronbach’s alpha greater than 0.8). Eventually, the data were analyzed, using SPSS 16 and appropriate statistical methods.
Findings: Generally, 46.3% of the participants had a history of CVDs, 21.8% had a history of death caused by these diseases in their family, and 69.4% had a history of death caused by CVD among their relatives; 72.4% of the participants did not exercise daily and the mean daily exercise of participants was 8.08±1.51 minutes. Totally, 41.5% of the participants were taking solid oil, 78.6% were high-fat dairy consumers, and 41.2% consumed red meat more than twice a week.
Conclusion: Performance of the participants in terms of physical activity and consuming fruits and vegetables, fish, red meat, and fatty foods is undesirable, indicating the unhealthy lifestyle of people and their exposure to CVDs.

Abstract Aim: Insufficient physical activity in women exposes them to problems such as overweight, diabetes, depression and cardiovascular diseases on top. In between, employees have minimum physical activity due to type of their job. The goal of this study was determining psychological factors effective on the physical activity of women working in University of Tehran based on the theory of planned behavior. Methods: The research population included female office workers from the University of Tehran, who were selected through a call at this university in 2014 for this descriptive analytical cross-sectional study. For data gathering, a questionnaire was used with acceptable validity and reliability including demographic information and constructs of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as well as International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Data were analyzed using SPSS21. The statistical bivariate correlation test and stepwise regression test were employed at the significance level of 0.05. Findings: In this study, behavioral intention had a positive and significant relation with perceived behavioral control (P=0.000) and attitude (P=0.042). Also behavioral intention had a positive and significant relation with physical activity (P=0.000). Stepwise regression analysis was used to evaluate important factors effective on prediction of behavior and intention; it determined 40% of intention variance (R2= 0.408). Conclusion: The results of the study showed that constructs such as attitude and perceived behavioral control can be effective on the behavioral intention and physical behavior of female employees; therefore, these factors must be seriously considered in educational planning for this group of the society.

Abstract Aims: Fatalistic employees take serious risks because they have limited knowledge of risks and accidents, leading them to under estimate the possibility of their occurrence. This research examined the effectiveness of safety training on changing employees’ fatalism with attention to the mediating role of attitude toward safety issues. Methods: 204 employees was selected according to the stratified random sampling method in Isfahan Steel Company, divided randomly into control group (n=103) and experimental group (n=101) and the questionnaires of safety attitude and fatalism were applied as data collection instruments. The data was collected before intervention, and educational intervention was then executed in four 90-minute sessions over four days. One month after intervention, post-test was performed and the collected data was analyzed using descriptive indexes, t- and F-tests. Findings: Results show that there was a significant statistical difference in average numbers of attitude toward safety issues and fatalism before and after training intervention (p<0.01). Also, mediation analysis indicated attitude toward safety issues mediated the effect of safety trainings on fatalism (p>0.05). Therefore, safety training only by promoting workers’ safety attitudes can change the fatalistic beliefs among employees. Conclusion: By understanding relationship between fatalism and safety attitude, it should be possible to improve the training of employees, such that are less likely to attribute accidents to chance or fate.