The Effect of an Educational Intervention Based on Health Belief Model on Nutritional Behaviors in Type 2 Diabetics

Introduction: Patient plays a major role in treatment and control of diabetes. Therefore, his/her knowledge about various fields such as diet is very important. Objective: This research is conducted aiming at investigating the efficiency of Health Belief Model (HBM) for educating the patients with Type 2 Diabetes how to go on a diet. Materials and Methods: The current research is a quasi-experimental study. The studied population consists of 100 patients with Type 2 Diabetes in Tiran and Karvan counties and were randomly divided into two intervention (n=50) and control (n=50) groups. Data was collected through face to face interviews with patients using a researcher-made questionnaire with approved validity and reliability before and one month after the education. Furthermore, the collected data was analyzed by SPSS 19 and Chi-square test, Mann- Whitney, Paired t-test and independent T- test. Results: After the intervention, a significant difference was seen between experimental and control groups in terms of scores of awareness, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, self-efficacy and eating behavior (P<0.05). The mean of blood glucose in experimental group was significantly lower after educational intervention compared to pre-intervention (P<0.05). Discussion and Conclusion: According to the present study, health belief model is efficient in educating the eating behaviors of diabetic patients