Effective Factors on Health-Promoting Lifestyle Among Iranian Chemical Veterans in 2014 Based on Health Promotion Model: A Path Analysis

BACKGROUND Health-promoting behaviors can enhance physical and mental health among individuals with disability, particularly veterans. OBJECTIVES The current study aimed to examine both one-way direct and indirect effects of the factors of the Health Promotion Model (HPM) on health-promoting behaviors in chemical veterans from Ilam province in Iran. MATERIALS AND METHODS This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2014. In this study, 239 moderate-to-severe chemical veterans from Illam province supported by the veterans' affairs department of Ilam were evaluated via census sampling. Data including health-promoting behaviors, perceived self-efficacy, perceived barriers and benefits, perceived social support, and perceived health status were collected using standard questionnaires. RESULTS The results show that the HPM is a poor predictor of the health-promoting lifestyles of chemical veterans (R2 = 15%). Social support (factor loading = 0.38) is the strongest predictor of health-promoting behaviors and it influences such behaviors directly, while perceived barriers (factor loading = -0.11) and perceived self-efficacy (factor loading = 0.02) indirectly predict behavior through social support. CONCLUSIONS Perceived social support is the most important factor that influences health-promoting behaviors. Increasing social support by enhancing self-efficacy and decreasing perceived barriers can improve health-promoting behaviors among veterans.