Abstract
Osteoporosis remains a global health problem. An osteoporosis-related fracture associated with significant morbidity, mortality, and health care costs. Bone health is becoming a serious concern in the kingdom as the prevalence of osteoporosis is expected to increase in Saudi Arabia where hereditary background, nutrition, and geographical location have been identified as predisposing factors for osteoporosis, so the health belief model is a useful and effective model that can be also utilized to design intervention programs to improve osteoporosis preventive behaviors. Aim: to evaluate the knowledge and preventive behavior of Saudi women regarding osteoporosis in Tabuk city. Design: the descriptive design was used to achieve the aim of this study. Setting: This study conducted at five colleges of Tabuk University, the female section (science, applied medical sciences, home economics, business administration, sharia and systems). Sample: Simple random sample 25% about (5 colleges) of the total 20 Tabuk University colleges then all working women in the selected college (71) were taken according to inclusion criteria. Two tools of data collection were used; 1) self-administrated questionnaire sheet: It includes socio-demographic data, health history and knowledge assessment 2) modified liken scale: to assess the health belief model constructs, using a 5-point Likert scale. Results: The findings revealed that 69 % of the women had unsatisfactory knowledge regarding osteoporosis and the mean scores of cues to preventive action and perceived susceptibility was 25.5 +/- 3.37 and 11.91 +/- 2.04 respectively, also a significant positive correlation between total scores of knowledge, perceived barriers, cues to preventive action & perceived severity constructs. Conclusion & recommendation: Most of the Saudi women in Tabuk city have unsatisfactory knowledge regarding osteoporosis prevention; the study confirms the efficiency of the health belief model in improving preventive behaviors of osteoporosis. Therefore, health education programs based on the health belief model are important for Saudi women in Tabuk city to improve their knowledge & behavior toward the prevention of osteoporosis.