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

Patient plays a major role in treatment and control of diabetes. Therefore, his/her knowledge about various fields such as diet is very important. 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. 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. 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). According to the present study, health belief model is efficient in educating the eating behaviors of diabetic patients