Self-reported Health and Health-promoting Behaviors in Women of Reproductive Age

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Self-reported health is a reliable indicator of health and a good indicator of mortality and morbidity, which is associated with several factors including demographic, socioeconomic, behavioral and psychological factors. This study aims to investigate self-reported health in women of reproductive age and its relationship with health-promoting behaviors and socio-demographic factors. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 330 women of reproductive age admitted to selected health care centers in Qom in spring 2016. The women were categorized in two groups of good and poor health based on the self-reported health question "how would you describe your general health?". The health-promoting lifestyle profile II (HPLP II) questionnaire was used to assess health-promoting behaviors with the total possible score ranging from 52 to 208. FINDINGS: The mean age of the studied women was 29.6 ± 6.2 years. T-test demonstrated that the mean scores of stress management (19.92±4.02), spiritual growth (26.33 ± 4.76) and nutrition (25.92 ± 4.66) in the women with good health were significantly higher compared to women with poor health (18.65 ± 4.61, 24.44 ± 5.55, 24.35 ± 4.89, respectively). In the final analysis based on the logistic regression model, only the factors of income adequacy for living expenses (CI=1.778-9.625, OR=4.136, P.V=0.001) and spiritual growth (CI=0.872-0.985, OR=0.926, P.V=0.04) remained as significant factors. CONCLUSION: Considering the results of this study, income adequacy for living expenses and spiritual growth are the indicators associated with self-reported health in women of reproductive age.