Prevention of osteoporosis in female students based on the Orem self-care model

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization has introduced osteoporosis as the fourth main enemy of mankind. Self care has served as a new trend in health care. OBJECTIVE: Educational intervention for osteoporosis related preventive self care in female university students using the Orem model. METHODS: This study is a controlled filed trial, carried out with female students of Islamic Azad University, Shahrekord Branch, Iran, from October 28, 2014 to November 15, 2016. Two-stage random stratified sampling was performed and the data were collected through a validated questionnaire developed by the researcher for osteoporosis preventive self-care based on the Orem model. The intervention group received education about osteoporosis preventive self-care through two months training, as per the dimensions in the Orem model. For statistical analysis, independent-samples t-test and paired t-test were used in SPSS version 23. RESULTS: As revealed, mean scores for self-care agency, self-care demand, self-care operation structures and total self-care in the intervention group were significantly different before and after the intervention (p=0.014, p<0.001, p=0.002, and p<0.001, respectively). Accordingly, educational intervention seems to be effective in promoting self-care for the prevention of osteoporosis. While the control group, showed no significant difference in any of the above-mentioned aspects before and after intervention (p=0.90, p=0.53, p=0.51, and p= 0.97, respectively). CONCLUSION: The results are in favor of the effects of educational intervention on osteoporosis preventive self-care among female students. It can be suggested that education during a woman’s young age, can be very beneficial for the prevention of osteoporosis in the future. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The trial was registered at the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials (http://www.irct.ir) with the Irct ID: IRCT201510028742N8. FUNDING: The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.