Development and Effect of a Behavior Program for Reducing Exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in Unmarried Women

Abstract

Purpose: This study was conducted to develop a behavior program for reducing exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), thereby to improve perceived benefits and self-efficacy as well as reduce the perceived barriers and prevalence of dysmenorrhea in unmarried women.Methods: The study used a nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design. Participants were randomly assigned to an experiment (n=18) or control group (n=18). The behavior program for reducing exposure to EDCs was developed based on Pender's health promotion model and previous research results. The program was conducted for 12 weeks, consisting of 4 weeks of face-to-face intervention and 8 weeks of mobile intervention.Results: The behavior program we developed was verified as an effective intervention that could improve the perceived benefits and self-efficacy of reducing one's exposure to EDCs. It also decreases the perceived barriers and prevalence of dysmenorrhea in unmarried women.Conclusion: Our results showed that the program was an effective nursing intervention in unmarried women. Therefore, this behavior program for reducing exposure to EDCs can be applied in the context of unmarried women.

Influencing Factors of Behavior for Reducing Exposure to Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals and Demand for Related Education

“…The mean perceived benefits score was 41.63 out of 55, which was similar to that reported for single women using the same instrument [26]. Our results were consistent with previous findings showing a significant positive correlation between health promoting behaviors and perceived benefits in university students; however, it is difficult to compare our findings with prior literature due to the lack of other studies analyzing the relationship between behaviors for reducing exposure to EDCs and perceived benefits.…”

“…The mean perceived barrier score was 14.14 out of 30, which was similar to the score among single women measured using the same instrument [26]. This was also consistent with the scores reported for breastfeeding and pregnant women [9,10], although these studies used a different instrument.…”

“…Behaviors for reducing exposure to EDCs were measured using the instrument developed by Kim and Kim [21] and modified by Kim and Choi [26], which was further validated through evaluation by one nursing and one environmental health professor. This instrument has 35 items, and each item is rated on a five-point Likert scale.…”