mothers' education for improving their children's self-efficacy about physical activity

Background: this study aimed to determine the effect of mothers' education on improving children's self-efficacy regarding physical activity. methods: this descriptive-interventional, quasi-experimental study was performed in iran during 2021. first, 384 mothers were selected from 5 health centers in mashhad based on the inclusion criteria. then, 102 mothers with children aged 6-7 years were chosen using a simple random method and placed in two test (n=51) and control (n=51) groups. the educational program was held based on self-efficacy theory for the test group in five sessions. the data were collected in three stages (before, immediately, and three months later) using a valid researcher-made questionnaire. eventually, the data were analyzed by spss 20 using chi-square, mann-whitney, friedman, and kruskal-wallis. results: descriptive statistics demonstrated that demographic variables had a significant relationship with physical activity self-efficacy in the children under study (p<0.05). regarding the self-efficacy score in the test group, before the educational program, it was 40.8±74.27, and immediately after the intervention and in the follow-up stage, it further increased to 53.9±21.51 and 54.9±31.63, respectively. this increase was statistically significant (p<0.05) with an effect size of 0.53. however, no significant differences were observed in the control group. conclusion: the results revealed that an educational program based on self-efficacy theory can be effective in improving children's physical activity.