Health-Promoting Lifestyle of Adolescents with β-Thalassemia Based on Precede Model in Ahvaz, Iran, 2016

Abstract

Background: Lifestyle as a health promotion component contains six dimensions of stress management, health-responsibility, interpersonal relationships, spiritual growth, nutrition and physical activity. The current study aimed to determine the health- promoting lifestyle of adolescents with β-thalassemia, based on Precede model to analyze behavior. Methods: It was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in February 2016 on 64 adolescents with β-thalassemia and the age range of 16 - 20 years selected by census sampling method. Data were collected by two self-reporting questionnaires; health- promoting lifestyle profile (HPLP) II and a researcher-made questionnaire based on Precede model. Data were analyzed using SPSS ver. 22 by applying descriptive statistics of absolute and relative frequency distribution, central tendency, mean and standard devi- ation, and analytical statistics of spearman correlation and Mann-Whitney U test. Results: The mean age of participants was 17.98 ± 1.36 years and the mean overall score of lifestyle of adolescents under study was 106.23±8.54. Based on the findings of the current study, the overall lifestyle of adolescents with β-thalassemia was correlated with their knowledge and attitude. In addition, the standardized mean score of knowledge was greater in females than males (P value = 0.05). Conclusions: Overall health-promoting lifestyle of the studied adolescents with β-thalassemia was unsatisfactory. Due to the im- pact of adopted lifestyle on the current and future health of adolescents, it is important that the necessary measures are taken to encourage more young people with β-thalassemia to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Keywords: