ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Public Health Education and Promotion
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1558210
This article is part of the Research TopicBuilding Health Through Physical Activity in Schools - Volume IIView all 9 articles
School-Based Peer Education Intervention on Physical Activity in Iranian Adolescent Girls: An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior
Provisionally accepted
Afsaneh Ranaei1Seyedeh Belin TavakolI Sany1Mohammad Vahedian Shahroodi1Azam Sabahi2
Hadi Tehrani1*Abdoljavad Khajavi3*- 1Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
- 2Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, South Khorasan, Iran
- 3Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonābād, Iran
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Introduction: The level of physical activity (PA) among Iranian adolescent girls is significantly lower than the recommended level. This survey aims to examine the impact of school-based peer education Intervention on promoting PA using the theory of planned behavior (TPB) among girls in high school.Methods: a quasi-experimental study was conducted on 160 girls in high school of Gonabad, Iran. School-based peer education program was conducted for the intervention group through five training sessions and the threemonth follow-up to enhance clarity. Data was collected using a researcher-made questionnaire based on TPB, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), and demographic information. The content validity Index, content validity ratio, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient values demonstrated strong content validity and reliability (> 0.85). The obtained data were analyzed using appropriate statistical tests using SPSS software 20.The average age of the participants was 13.5 ± 1.2 years, and 65% had low levels of PA. The intervention group demonstrated significant improvements across all constructs of the TPB compared to the control group. The mean scores for attitude toward behavior (p=0.012), subjective norms (p=0.023), perceived behavioral control (p=0.003), and behavioral intention (p=0.001) showed significant enhancement in the intervention group. Additionally, physical activity behavior improved significantly (p<0.05) after the intervention, while no significant improvement was observed in the control group (p>0.05). The Cohen's d values for all constructs in the intervention group, except for subjective norms, exceeded 0.8, indicating a large effect size for these constructs.School-based peer education using the TPB can be used as an effective theory to promote the level of PA among high school girls. This approach strengthens attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms, leading to improved behavioral intentions and increased PA among female students.
Keywords: physical activity, peer education, Health Education, Health Promotion, Public Health
Received: 09 Jan 2025; Accepted: 22 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ranaei, TavakolI Sany, Vahedian Shahroodi, Sabahi, Tehrani and Khajavi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Hadi Tehrani, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
Abdoljavad Khajavi, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonābād, Iran
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