The effect of the health belief model-based education & improvement of consumption of fruits and vegetables: An interventional study

Cardiovascular diseases are noncontiguous diseases which are caused by various factors. Considering the importance of nutrition education especially consumption of fruits and vegetables; This study was performed to determine the effect of health education based on health belief model on the improvement of consumption of fruits and vegetables aiming at preventing cardiovascular disease among high school girls in Shahr-e-kord city. This is a quasi-experimental intervention study. The research population was 120 students that were randomly divided into different groups, experimental (60 person) and controls (60 person). The tools for data collecting were questionnaire health belief model based and FFQ questionnaire. The HBM questionnaire was completed 3 times, (before, Immediately and 2 months after education) and FFQ questionnaire was completed 2 times, (before and 2 months after education) by students. After pre-test, 6 educational session classes in experimental group were performed. Finally data collected and analyzed by SPSS16 computer software (T- test, repeated measure ANOVA). The two groups had no significant difference in terms of demographic variables. There was no significant differences observed in two groups before the intervention between the scores of different structures of this model (P>0/05). There was significant differences observed after the intervention between experimental and control groups in the levels of knowledge, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, perceived efficacy and performance (p<0.001). According to the results, intervention has positive impact on the improvement of consumption of fruits and vegetables among students.