An Educational Program Based on the Successful Aging Approach on Health-Promoting Behaviors in the Elderly: A Clinical Trial Study

BACKGROUND: Many criteria of successful aging are directly connected with Health-Promoting Behaviors. OBJECTIVES: The current study aimed to evaluate the effect of an educational program based on the successful aging approach on health promoting behaviors in the elderly. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This clinical trial study was conducted on 464 Iranian elderly people over 60 years who were admitted at Health Houses for 12 months. Participants were selected through a two-stage cluster sampling and were placed in the control and intervention groups (232 participants in each group). The data collection tools included: a demographic checklist, Palmore Facts on Aging Quiz and the second version of Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile. The intervention was designed based on adult strategy education in five 45-minute sessions. The data obtained 3 months after the intervention were compared with the data obtained before the intervention. The data were analyzed using the descriptive and analytical tests such as paired T-test with SPSS version 20, at the statistical significant level 0.05. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants in this study was 65.9 ± 3.6 (range 60-73). Results showed a statistically significant difference between the intervention and control group after the intervention in the mean scores of awareness of aging facts and score of health promoting behaviors. CONCLUSIONS: Focusing on successful aging and adopting HPBs can prevent and decrease aging problems which in turn decreases the financial burden and related costs. This is especially important for the policy and decision makers of the health systems.