The Effect of peer education on health-promoting behaviors in patients with COVID-19 referred to Urmia educational and therapeutic centers, Iran

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought more attention to health promotion. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of peer education on health-promoting behaviors in patients with COVID-19.

In 2021, 80 COVID-19 patients were enrolled in a randomized clinical trial, including 40 patients each in the intervention and control groups. Demographic and Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile-II (HPLP-II) questionnaires were used to collect the data. The sessions were conducted in groups of 10 people, face-to-face, and by phone over 5 days. After one month of implementation, the HPLP-II was completed by both groups again. The data were analyzed using SPSS software version 16, with a significance level of less than 0.05 taken into account.

Most of the patients were in the 46-65 age group. Based on the results of the paired t-test, there was no statistically significant difference in health promotion behaviors before and after the intervention in the control group (p > 0.05). The paired t-test revealed a significant increase in the mean of health-promoting behaviors before and after the peer education intervention in the experimental group (p < 0.05). Health promotion behaviors based on the independent t-test after the intervention revealed a significant difference between the two groups across all domains (p < 0.05).

Peer instruction can lead to an expanded level of well-being- advancing behaviors in patients with COVID-19. It is proposed that future studies center on the impact of peer instruction on health-promoting behaviors in people with other illnesses.