Improvement of Cardiovascular Risk Factors by Applying a Modified Educational Model of Planned Behavior Among the Employees of a Large Petrochemical Company

Abstract

Background: One of the most important non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is cardiovascular disease (CVD). CVDs caused an increase in treatment costs and sick-leave hours in employees. These diseases are originated from unhealthy behaviors. Education and training health behaviors are a necessity in the workplace. Worksites that are exclusively situated to provide interventional education would effectively reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease in employees. Petrochemical industries are regarded as the key industry and improving the working conditions leads to employees' satisfaction and remarkable productivity levels. Objectives: The current study was aimed at investigating the impacts of the theory of planned behavior (TPB)-based nutritional education on the risk factors of CVD in the employees of petrochemical companies. Methods: The current study was a randomized controlled field trial. The subjects were male employees aged 30 to 60 years, with at least 3 years of work experience. The employees had at least one type of blood lipid abnormalities according to their medical checkups. One hundred and four participants were randomly selected and divided into 2 groups of intervention and control. Educational program was performed in 5 educational sessions. Individuals' data were collected before and 3 months after the intervention using demographic, TPB questionnaires and serum lipid profiles. Results: Totally, 92 participants were included in the study: 49 participants in the intervention group with the mean age of 42.30 +/- 9.13 years, and 43 in the control group with the mean age of 43.18 +/- 8.75 years. Significant differences between the scores of knowledge and other items of TPB model as well as nutritional indices were observed in the intervention group after 3 months (P value < 0.05). The mean serum levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) reduced significantly, after the intervention (P value < 0.05). Improvements in serum cholesterol (intragroup) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (intergroup) levels were near-significant post-intervention group (P value < 0.06). Conclusions: Tailored nutrition education program was effective in improving of nutritional behaviors and serum level of LDL-C in the employees of the petrochemical companies.