Predictors of the nutritional behavior of housewives in Sarayan county: an application of the social cognitive theory

Background: Healthy nutrition is part of a healthy lifestyle. A healthy diet can lead to physical and mental health in people. In recent years, a great deal of attention has been paid to good nutrition as a development index and to women as breeders of the next generation. Most organizations, including the World Health Organization and UNICEF, have highlighted health as one of their priorities with an emphasis on nutritional needs. The present study aimed to evaluate the predicting power of Bandura s social cognitive theory for the nutritional behavior of housewives in Sarayan, Southern Khorasan Province, Iran. Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted in Sarayan in 2016 on 400 housewives who were married and aged from 30 to 50 years. Random stratified cluster sampling method was utilized, and a researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect data. The face and content validity of the questionnaire was approved by experts, and reliability was confirmed by calculating Cronbach s alpha coefficient. Data was then analyzed by SPSS-18 software, using both descriptive and inferential statistical tests at the significance level of p 0.05. Results: The mean age of the participants was 38.7±5.9 years. A total of 286 (70.8%) persons had poor nutritional behavior, 102 (25.2%) persons had moderate nutritional behavior, and 16 (4%) persons had good nutritional behavior. From among the social cognitive theory constructs, self-efficacy (p 0.001) and situation (p 0.001) were significant predictors of the nutritional behavior of housewives. These two variables could predict 13.6% of the nutritional behavior of housewives. Conclusions: The results of this study showed that self-efficacy is the most important predictor of the nutritional behavior of housewives. Therefore, designing educational interventions to promote self-efficiency in housewives is recommended.