Investigating the Effect of Education Based on the Health Belief Model on Safe Behavior Preventing Children's Injuries in Mothers with under 5-Years Children

Improving childrenchr('39')s health is one of the most important indicators of a communitychr('39')s health and preventing injuries in children requires safety. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of theory-based education (Health Belief Model) on motherschr('39') safety behavior in preventing injuries from pediatric accidents.

This semi-experimental study was conducted with 220 mothers with children under 5 years old. The data collection tool was a questionnaire based on knowledge, Health Belief Model constructs, behavior, and home safety checklist that was completed before and after educational intervention in both control and test groups by a Self-Report Method. The educational intervention based on the Health Belief Model was performed in 3 sessions using feedback speech, group discussion, clip display, and images. Data were analyzed by SPSS 22 statistical software and Mann-Whitney, Wilcoxon, t, and Chi-Square tests.

The mean age and standard deviation of mothers were 28.50±5.20 years. There was a significant difference between the mean score of awareness, behavior, home safety and structural beliefs of the health belief model in the intervention group before and after the educational intervention (p<0.001) and in the control group between the mean score of perceived sensitivity and perceived barriers, behavior, home safety increased significantly. There was a significant difference in the score difference each of the variables before and after the intervention between the two groups.

The educational program designed based on the Health Belief Model is effective in improving motherschr('39') beliefs and enhancing the safety behavior of mothers in preventing childrenchr('39')s accidents.