The effect of osteoporosis prevention intervention based on health belief model on calcium intake and exercise in premenopausal women

Increasing calcium intake and physical activity levels of premenopausal women is protective for both osteoporosis and its complications. The individual's health-related behaviors are influenced by his/her beliefs about the disease and its consequences. The Health Belief Model (SIM), developed for this purpose, explains what motivates or prevents the patient's compliance with treatment in many health problems as well as behaviors that protect and improve health. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of an intervention based on components of SIM on calcium intake and physical activity levels of premenopausal women. This randomized controlled study was conducted in İzmir Karabağlar Public Education Center between 1 January and 28 February 2018. Participants were selected from premenopausal women who attended various courses in the center. 180 women who accepted to participate in the study and who met the inclusion criteria were randomized to the intervention and control groups using the closed envelope method. The intervention is a 60-90 minutes training program aimed at raising awareness about the components of the SIM and planned as a seminar. The seminar was given by the researcher in groups of 7-10 participants. The control group received only written training material (brochure). Scales were used to determine health beliefs, self-efficacy perceptions, exercise levels, and three-day average calcium intake, both before and 3 months after the intervention. In the intervention group, osteoporosis health belief scale (p <0.05), osteoporosis self-efficacy-efficacy scale (p <0.05), exercise scores (p <0.001) and calcium intake averages (p <0.001) were significantly increased compared to the control group. However, there were no significant difference between the intervention and control groups in health motivation score (p = 0.127) and self-efficacy-efficacy scale calcium intake score (p = 0.064). In the pre- and post-training evaluation, there was a significant increase in osteoporosis health belief (p <0.001), osteoporosis self-efficacy (p <0.001), exercise scores (p <0.001) and calcium intake (p <0.001) in the intervention group. Although the training has been found to be effective in raising awareness of osteoporosis and creating behavior change, additional studies are needed to generalize the results and evaluate the long-term effects.