Background: Osteoporosis is a growing health problem in developing countries,
especially in the Middle East. The purpose of this study is to assess knowledge and beliefs of
female nursing student towards prevention of osteoporosis. Design: Descriptive research
design was utilized. Setting: The study was conducted at the Faculty of Nursing, Benha
University. Sampling: systematic random sample was done to select 292 female nursing
students. Two instruments were used : A self-administered structured questionnaire was need
to collect data about (1) social characteristic (2) students' knowledge about osteoporosis so
Osteoporosis Health Beliefs Scale was used. Results: the mean age of students was 20.83
1.48 years, and 87.3% of female students had poor knowledge about osteoporosis. Regarding
health beliefs, 49.8% of them had low susceptibility and 79.4% had high perception regarding
benefits of calcium intake for osteoporosis. Conclusion: the study concluded that, there was a
highly statistical significant positive correlation between total knowledge score and total
osteoporosis health beliefs score. Recommendations: A nursing intervention, health education
program based on health belief model was recommended to improve knowledge and beliefs
regarding prevention of osteoporosis among nursing student |
