The Situation of Health-Promoting Lifestyle among the Students Living in Dormitories of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Health-promoting lifestyle is a major determining factor of health. Living in dormitories during studentship, due to particular circumstances, could play a decisive role on student's health promoting lifestyle. The purpose of this research was to study the situation of health-promoting lifestyle among the students living in the dormitories of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran. In this cross-sectional study, sample of 140 female and 110 male students residing in the dormitories of Tehran University of Medical Sciences were selected by stratified random sampling method in 2012. All the included students completed a questionnaire with two parts, sociodemographic information and the standard Walker’s lifestyle questionnaire. Data were analyzed by the independent samples t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Spearman and Pearson correlations. The mean score of health promoting lifestyle was 119 ± 20.3 from a maximum score of 208, indicating a moderate situation. There were significant associations between the health-promoting lifestyle (HPL) and employment, marital status, age, and average grade in final exams. No significant relations between the health-promoting lifestyle and gender or academic degree. This study showed that the score of health-promoting lifestyle is average among the students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. So, targeted interventions should be made to promote health-promoting lifestyle among these students.