Lifestyle Behavior of Turkish University Nursing Students From Beginning to End of Nurse Training

    The topic that we learned in this week was change in the health promoting lifestyle behavior of Turkish University nursing students from beginning to end of nurse training.

   The aim of this study was to determine whether any difference was observed in the behavior of nursing students. This longitudinal and descriptive study was conducted with 57 students during 2002–2006 academic years in Marmara University, School of Nursing.

   From the study we knew the health promoting lifestyles of nursing students were measured with the ‘‘health promotion lifestyle profile’’ (HPLP) developed by Pender et al. (1987). In this study the instrument was used five times and its internal consistency checked with every administration of the instrument for every year. Percentage, variance analysis, Cronbach & coefficient and the t-test were used in the analysis of data. As a result, The findings indicated that healthy lifestyle behaviors of nursing students changed over time, from when they began and at the end of every year during their nurse training. And they also indicated a positive change in healthy lifestyle behaviors as a result of the nursing education process. Nurse educators have the power to shape the behaviors of tomorrow’s nurses. The university level nurse training in Turkey supported the development of students’ healthy lifestyle behaviors. Including lifestyle programs in nursing education may help promote the long term health of future nurses who will serve as positive role models for patients.