Effect of Educational Intervention Based on Self-efficacy Theory and Self-regulatory Strategies on Physical Activity of Prehypertensive Individuals

Abstract

Background: Considering the importance of healthy lifestyle education in the prevention and control of hypertension and the timely identification of pre-hypertensive individuals, the present study was conducted to determine the effect of educational intervention based on self-efficacy theory and self-regulatory strategies on the physical activity of pre-hypertensive individuals. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was performed on 90 people aged 30 to 59 referred to urban health centers in Nehbandan in 2021. They were randomly selected and divided into two groups of 50 (intervention and control). Data were collected by questionnaires on demographic information, hypertension knowledge, self-efficacy of physical activity, and physical activity by the self-administered method. After the pretest, the intervention group received six training sessions in four weeks. The posttest was performed in two groups immediately and three months after the training sessions. Data were analyzed by repeated-measures analysis of variance, Bonferroni post hoc test, independent t-test, and chi-square test in SPSS version 21software. Results: The mean age of the participants was 45.80 ± 8.31 in the control group and 44.95 ± 8.20 in the intervention group. Data analysis showed the equality of knowledge, self-efficacy, and physical activity between the two groups before the intervention (P > 0.05). After the intervention, a significant increase was observed in the mean scores of knowledge, self-efficacy, and physical activity in the intervention group immediately and three months after the intervention (P<0.05). Also, the levels of knowledge, self-efficacy, and physical activity were significantly lower in the control group than in the intervention group (P<0.001). Conclusions: The present study showed the effectiveness of an educational intervention based on self-efficacy theory and self-regulatory strategies on physical activity of pre-hypertensive individuals. Therefore, this theory is proposed to design educational interventions to promote regular physical activity.