Effect of “Stage of Change Model” on the Promotion of Physical Activity of Health Volunteers in Rasht

Abstract Introduction: Physical inactivity as a reason of 6 percent of mortality is identified as the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. Women are more inactive than men. Health volunteers are one of the most important loops of primary health care networks for educating the urban community. Applying the Stage of Change Model as an integrated pattern in behavior change is a good guide to exercise interventions. Objective: To determine the effect of intervention based on Stage of Change Model on the promotion of physical activity of Health Volunteers in Rasht as pineers in learning healthy lifestyles. Materials and Methods: This randomized controlled trial was conducted on 176 Health Volunteers in Rasht that randomly assigned into experimental and control groups by multistage sampling. Data were collected by a valid and reliable self-administered questionnaire including demographic data, Stages of Change Model constructs, and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-long form) before and 3 months after intervention in two groups. Data were analyzed by Independent T-Test, Paired T-Test, Wilcoxon, Mann-Whitney U, McNemar, Chi-square, one-Sample and two-sample Kolmogrov-Smirnov in SPSS-18 software. Results: After educational intervention, there was a significant difference in the movement toward physical activity in the experimental group (p=0.005). Also, there was a significant difference between the mean score of physical activity after intervention in the experimental group (p=0.03). Conclusion: The results indicate a positive effect of intervention based on Stage of Change Model on the promotion of physical activity of Health Volunteers. Conflict of interest: non declared