Health Promoting Lifestyle among Students at Guilan University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Health promoting lifestyle is one of the determinants of health. University years are important phase of life when one can develop health promoting lifestyle. Given the high cost of healthcare there is need of shift from a treatment based approach to a preventive approach in which appropriate methods should be developed to promote health and productivity among youth. Objective: This study was aimed to measure health promoting lifestyle among the students of Guilan University of Medical Sciences in 2013-14. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study which measured six domains of health promoting lifestyle by using the 52-item Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile (HPLP II). Convenient sample of 343 students from the University was selected in 2013-14. The tool&rsquo;s reliability was confirmed by a Cronbach&rsquo;s alpha coefficient of 95% and intra class correlation coefficients of 67%-87% for the subscales. Data was presented in (frequency, mean, and standard deviation and (ANOVA and t-test) were used for comparing two or more variables. Results: The total score of health promoting lifestyle (129.46 &plusmn; 17.69) was undesirable in university students. There was significant differences in terms of spiritual development (P = 0.004) and inter-personal relations (P<0.005).Gender had significant relations with eating habits (P= 0.014), physical activity (P<0.001), and health accountability (P<0.001). While girls scored higher in eating habits and health accountability, boys did better in physical activity. However, the scores of all these three dimensions were undesirable in both genders. Conclusion: Health Promoting lifestyle scores were undesirable in university students and significantly related to eating and physical activities. Therefore, there is an urgent need of developing program on healthy lifestyle for them