The Effect of the Pender's Self-care Education Program on Improving the Lifestyle of Older People referred to Healthcare Centers in Osku City, 2016

Abstract

Abstract: Introduction: Adoption of a healthy lifestyle during old age is very important. Older people need to have an effective self-care program to improve their health due to multiple physical and mental problems. Interventions based on models and patterns are required to change older people’s lifestyle. The Pender model is a comprehensive theory for the explanation of behaviors that enhance individuals’ health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the intervention based on the Pender Health Promotion Model on improving lifestyle in older people referred to healthcare centers in Osko city, 2016.

Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted with 140 older people referred to healthcare centers in Osko city. They were selected using the convenience sampling method and randomly assigned into the intervention (70) and control (n = 70) groups. The socio-demographic questionnaire and a two-dimensional HPLP II questionnaire were filled out before and after the intervention through interviews. The intervention group was monitored by the researcher-designed self-care checklist for eight weeks.

Results: The mean difference and total confidence interval of the older people’s style before and after the intervention were ) MD2/22(CI (-5/45 - 9/91) and MD )-35/820 - 35/820( , CI (-39/588 - 39/588) in the groups respectively. Such a difference was found statistically significant using the independent t-test before the intervention, covariance analysis with adjusting the baseline values after the intervention (p <0.0001). Conclusion: The results indicated the effectiveness of self-care strategy with the health promotion approach. Therefore, older people can have more healthy life style through achievements of required knowledge and skills of self-care.