Interrelationship between underprivileged neighborhoods and health promotion lifestyles: insights from Kermanshah, Iran

Iran is facing the consequences of the hubristic period and the level of mortalities is affected by lifestyles. Residents of underprivileged neighborhoods of the Iranian Kermanshah Metropolis encounter numerous socioeconomic, physical, and cultural challenges. Hence, this study aims to investigate the ecocultural and physical conditions of underprivileged neighborhoods and their effects on the residents’ health promotion lifestyles in the neighborhoods in Kermanshah Metropolis, Western Iran.

In this cross-sectional study, the statistical population included the underprivileged neighborhoods of the Kermanshah Metropolis. The ecocultural and physical conditions of these neighborhoods were assessed using the population and housing census data, and lifestyle was measured using the Health Promoting Lifestyle Profile II (HPLP II). As for data analysis, the descriptive statistics analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Pearson correlation coefficient were employed in SPSS v.21.

The results of the present study revealed that the total mean score of lifestyles in underprivileged neighborhoods was low (111.67 ± 23.59). It was shown that females had a better quality of life than males, and the highest and lowest mean scores belonged to interpersonal relations and physical activity, respectively. Comparison of the findings also indicated that the underprivileged neighborhoods were significantly different in terms of health promotion lifestyles. As for the economic, physical, and cultural indexes, it was demonstrated that only cultural indices were significantly correlated with health promotion lifestyles, with a correlation coefficient of 0.716. The negative correlation coefficient of the young population was indicative of the inverse relationship between the growth of the young population and health promotion lifestyles. A negative relationship was also observed between nutrition and the young population. It was also shown that interpersonal relations negatively and positively correlated with the young population and migration rate, respectively.

The findings of this study revealed the urgent need for attention and emphasis to be given to the planning of activities to improve residents’ conditions of health promotion lifestyle in underprivileged neighborhoods by the urban managers and policymakers in the health and associated fields.