Osteoporosis is a major public health concern characterized by reduced bone mass and increased fracture risk. In the Middle East and North Africa region, including Palestine, its burden is increasing due to multiple factors. While aging, low calcium intake, vitamin D deficiency and limited awareness contribute, they do not fully explain the trend. In Palestine, as in other Middle Eastern countries, nutritional transition, marked by increased consumption of processed foods and reduced physical activity, particularly outdoors, may further exacerbate vitamin D deficiency and impair calcium absorption. This study aims to assess osteoporosis-related knowledge and health beliefs among Palestinian women and evaluate the effect of a brief educational intervention.
A pre-post cross-sectional study was conducted among 100 women aged 20–70 years recruited from community settings in two cities in northern Palestine. Data were collected using the osteoporosis knowledge and beliefs survey before and after a brief educational intervention on osteoporosis risk factors and prevention through diet and exercise. Paired t-tests and subgroup analyses were conducted using SPSS.
Participants showed moderate baseline knowledge, with an overall score of 73.3%. After the intervention, knowledge of risk factors improved significantly from 2.93 to 3.52 (p < 0.001). General health beliefs and calcium-related beliefs also improved significantly, while exercise-related beliefs did not change significantly. Women with higher education showed higher improvement in risk-factor knowledge (p = 0.022), while younger women demonstrated stronger gains in general health beliefs (p = 0.039) and exercise-related knowledge (p = 0.005).
This study offers valuable insights into the knowledge and health beliefs of osteoporosis among Palestinian women, providing evidence that even brief, targeted educational interventions can produce meaningful improvements. A key strength is the use of a pre-post design, which allowed direct measurement of change attributable to the intervention. Additionally, the study examined multiple belief domains and conducted subgroup analyses, providing a more nuanced understanding of which populations may benefit most from specific educational messages. However, certain limitations should be acknowledged. The sample was limited to women attending a specific setting, which may reduce generalizability to the wider population. Self-reported data may also be subject to recall or social desirability bias. Furthermore, the short follow-up period precludes drawing conclusions about the long-term retention of knowledge or sustained behavioral change.
Despite these limitations, the findings highlight important implications for practice: osteoporosis education initiatives should be culturally adapted, address both knowledge and behavioral barriers and consider broader contextual factors, such as healthcare access and social constraints that influence preventive behaviors. In Palestine, where ongoing conflict may further restrict preventive care, integrating osteoporosis awareness into existing community health programs could be a practical approach to ensuring wider reach and sustainability.
This study provides one of the few empirical assessments of osteoporosis knowledge and health beliefs among women in Palestine and suggests that brief, low-cost educational interventions may improve awareness and support community-based prevention strategies.
