Determining the Effect of Group Education on Improving the Lifestyle of the Elderly

Considering the increase in the elderly population and the importance of a health-promoting lifestyle in preventing diseases of old age, the present study was designed and implemented to determine the effect of teaching lifestyle dimensions in a group manner on improving the lifestyle of the elderly. This research is a field trial study conducted on 100 elderly people in 2016. The samples were divided into two groups of 50 people: group education and control. The intervention group received educational instructions on the proper lifestyle for the elderly, while the control group received no educational content. The tool for collecting information was the lifestyle questionnaire of the elderly. The questionnaires were completed before the intervention, one month, two months, and three months after the intervention, and the resulting data were analyzed using SPSS v. 21.

The findings indicated that the mean score for lifestyle in the experimental group increased significantly in the post-test phase compared to the control group (P<0.05). The results of the covariance analysis indicated that the group education on lifestyle dimensions significantly increased the scores representing the lifestyle of the elderly in the intervention group during the post-test phase (P<0.001). The results of the study suggested that the mean score of the lifestyle of the elderly has increased significantly following the intervention. If implemented with proper organization, group education on the lifestyle of the elderly can be an effective method in improving and promoting the lifestyle and reducing the risk factors of the elderly.