Female Adolescent Nursing Students' Guidelines about Prevention of Osteoporosis

Abstract

Osteoporosis is a significant public health problem, The prevalence of osteoporosis among Egyptian population is 10%. It is commonly accepted that development of a higher peak bone mass during adolescent years protects against postmenopausal osteoporosis. Aim of this study was to evaluate female adolescent nursing students' guidelines about  prevention of  osteoporosis. Quasi-experimental research design was used in this study. Convenient sample consists of 300 of female nursing students. It was conducted in 6 nursing schools in Menofia governorate. Five tools were developed to collect the data: interviewing questionnaire sheet: osteoporosis risk factors assessment sheet, nutritional knowledge assessment sheet, anthropometric measurement sheet (weight and height), and attitude assessment sheet. The results of the study revealed that more than half of the students (57.7%) were from 14-15 years, 44.7% of them had incorrect answer about definition of osteoporosis in pretest compared to only 1% while 32.3% of students didn't know about treatment in pretest compared to 18.3% in posttest. Statistically significant difference about attitude toward osteoporosis. Conclusion, Health education about osteoporosis was successful to improve the knowledge and practice of nursing students as knowledge, attitude and practice improved after sessions of education. They changed their practice based on their knowledge improvement.