Health Promoting Behavior and Influencing Factors in Iranian Breast Cancer Survivors

Background: The purpose of this study was to investigate the associations among the internal health locus ofcontrol, depression, perceived health status, self efficacy, social support, and health-promoting behavior in Iranianbreast cancer survivors and to determine influential variables. Materials and
Methods: A predictive design wasadopted. By convenient sampling the data of 262 breast cancer survivors in Iran were collected by questionnairesduring 2014. Data were analyzed applying descriptive statistics, t-tests, one-way ANOVA, Pearson’s correlationcoefficients, and stepwise multiple regression.
Results: The internal health locus of control, depression, perceivedhealth status, self efficacy, social support and undergoing chemotherapy all correlated significantly with thehealth-promoting lifestyle. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that social internal health locus ofcontrol, depression, perceived health status, self efficacy and social support and chemotherapy accounted forabout 39.8% of the variance in health promoting lifestyle. The strongest influence was social support, followedby self efficacy, perceived health status, chemotherapy and depression.
Conclusions: The results of the studyclarifed the seriousness of social support, self efficacy, perceived health status and depression in determiningthe health-promoting lifestyle among Iranian breast cancer survivors. Health professionals should concentrateon these variables in designing plans to promoting a healthy lifestyle.