Effect of educational intervention on improvement of physical activities of middle-aged women

BACKGROUND: Regular physical activity has important health benefits for women. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of theory-based educational interventions on the improvement of physical activities of middle-aged women. METHODS: This experimental study was conducted on 160 middle-aged women referred to Ahwaz health centers Iran in 2017 who were selected through the cluster sampling method. They were randomly divided into two groups: intervention (n = 80) and control (n = 80). The educational intervention for the experimental group consisted of 4 consultation and 4 follow-up sessions. The study outcomes included physical activity change, self-efficacy, decision-making balance, and the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, which were measured before the intervention and 2 months after that. The data were analyzed using the SPSS19 software as well as the Chi-square, independent t-test and paired t-test. RESULTS: After the intervention, the mean scores of preparedness for change, decision-making balance, perceived self-efficacy, pre-thinking, thinking, preparation, practice and maintenance were significantly different in both the experimental and control groups (P value < 0.05). The t-test showed that after the educational intervention, the mean score of physical activity was significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group (726.3 ± 201.6 and 339.8 ± 90.2, respectively) (P value < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The findings of this study showed that the theory-based educational intervention was effective on the improvement of the middle-aged women’s physical activities. Therefore, it is suggested that a theory-based educational program be designed and implemented in order to increase the physical activities of this group.