comparison of health-promoting life styles among medical and non-medical students in zanjan during 2016-2017

Background: although medical students gain essential knowledge about healthy lifestyles, studies show that this group does not behave in a healthy way and no effective lifestyle courses are also available for this group. objectives: the present study aimed to determine the health-promoting lifestyle in medical and non-medical students in zanjan during 2016-2017. methods: the population of this comparative-descriptive study included all students studying at the medical and non-medical universities of zanjan province. census and randomized cluster sampling techniques were used for selecting medical and non-medical students, respectively. the senior students who showed their tendency could participate in the study. in addition, the data were collected by demographic information and health-promoting behavior (hplpii) questionnaires. finally, the data were analyzed through using descriptive (frequency, frequency percentage, mean, and standard deviation) and inferential (independent t-test and the chi-square) statistics in spss 16 and p<0.05 was considered as the significance level. results: there was a significant difference regarding some demographic variables (sex, educational degree, dwelling place, average family income, the number of family members, along with mother’s education and employment status) between medical and non-medical students. the mean and standard deviation of health-promoting lifestyle score in medical and non-medical students were 2.52±0.39 and 2.53±0.41, respectively, indicating a moderate level. based on independent t-test, health accountability was higher in medical students compared to non-medical students although physical activity and the nutritional habits of medical students were weaker in this group as compared to non-medical students (p<0.05). however, no significant difference was observed between the mean of the other subgroups and the total score of the health-promoting lifestyle of the two groups (p>0.05). conclusion: based on the results, more accurate reviewing and planning are necessary regarding improving the health-promoting lifestyle, especially in the field of physical activity and nutritional habits while removing health promotion lifestyle barriers among students, especially medical students.