The Role of Education Underpinned by Health Belief Model in Promoting Kidney Care Behaviors in Type 2 Diabetic Patients

Kidney failure is one of the mainlate complications of diabetes so that more than half of patients waiting for a kidney transplant are suffering from diabetes as well. This study aimed to determine the effect of education underpinned by the health belief model on kidney care behaviors in type 2 diabetic patients.

This quasi-experimental study was performed on 88 type 2 diabetic patients, who were selected using the cluster sampling method and were randomly divided into experimental and control groups (44 patients per group). The required data were collected using a valid and reliable questionnaire underpinned by the health belief model and fasting blood sugar of patients before training for both groups, and then the experimental group was then trained for one month based on the health belief model and again after three months. Kidney and fasting blood care behaviors were measured, and the collected data were analyzed using chi-squared test, paired sample t-test, independent sample t-test, and ANCOVA.

Three months after the educational intervention, the performance of diabetic patients regarding the prevention of renal complications increased significantly in the intervention group (p<0.001), and the fasting blood sugar index decreased slightly.

This study showed that  after training diabetic patients and having active follow-ups and efforts to facilitate patients' perceived barriers, their skills in kidney health-related behaviors can be improved to reduce the incidence of complications in patients.