THE EFFECT OF HEALTH BELIEF MODEL-BASED EDUCATION ON HIGH-RISK PHYSICAL INACTIVITY BEHAVIOR IN FEMALE STUDENTS OF MASHHAD UNIVERSITY OF MEDICAL SCIENCES

Sedentary lifestyle is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. More than %80 of adolescents and young people, especially young girls, worldwide do not have enough physical activity. The present study was designed to determine the effect of education based on health belief model on high-risk sedentary physical activity in female students.

 In this randomized controlled clinical trial, 62 female students of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in 2020-2021 were selected by convenience sampling method and randomly divided into experimental and control groups based on the dormitory. The educational intervention was performed in two training sessions of 60 to 90 minutes in the form of a webinar, based on the structures of the health belief model. Data collection tools include demographic information form, a researcher-made questionnaire including health belief model constructs, knowledge and subscale of physical activity questionnaire, and Persian version of Youth Risk Behavior Assessment Questionnaire (YRBS 2019) (YRBS 2019), which were used after assessing validity and reliability. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical tests with SPSS software version 21.

Two groups were homogeneous based on age. Before the intervention, there were not statistically significant differences between both groups in the mean scores in the field of Knowledge, high-risk physical mobility behavior, and all the health belief model constructs, , but after the intervention, the differences between two groups in the mentioned criteria were statistically significant (P <0.001).

Education based on the health belief model is effective in reducing the high-risk behavior of physical inactivity, so the educational program of the present study can be used in order to reduce physical inactivity behavior in female students.