Health-promoting lifestyle among Mashhad School of Health Students, Mashhad, Iran, 2014

Background & aim: Health-promoting lifestyle (HPL) is one of the main criteria determining health and underlying factors preventing the health-threatening factors. HPL includes six dimensions of spiritual growth, health responsibility, nutrition, stress management, interpersonal relations, and physical activity. Considering the importance of students’ health, both at individual and social levels, the present study was performed with the aim to evaluate HPL among students (mainly females) of School of Health, affiliated to Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in 2014. Methods: In this cross-sectional descriptive study, 107 students of Mashhad School of Health were included, using stratified random sampling. In order to collect data, Walker questionnaire, with a 4-point Likert scale, was utilized, which included the following two sections: 1) demographic questions, and 2) questions related to the six dimensions of HPL. The collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation) and independent T-test, using SPSS version 11.5. The significance level was considered to be 0.05. Results: The results showed that 0.6% and 27.5% of the students were single and married, respectively. Lifestyle of 9.3%, 84.1% , and 6.5% of the students was poor, moderate, and good, respectively. The mean scores of HPL dimensions were also determined, which are as follows: spiritual growth (30.27±5.4), health response-bility (32.15±6.5), nutrition (15.65±4.06), stress management (12.76±2.9), interpersonal relations (21.34±4.35), and physical activity (13.69±5.1). According to the results, a significant relationship was observed between gender and physical activity (P < 0.05). Conclusion: As the results indicated, the majority of students had a moderate HPL. Since the lowest scores were related to physical activity and stress management, more training and facilities are required to improve these dimensions. It is recommended to provide high-quality healthcare services for women and raise women’s awareness about the benefits of physical activity during pregnancy via social media.