Abstract
BACKGROUND: Diabetes is responsible for a large percentage of mortality rate and disabilities. Health care education, particularly in rural regions with low facilities, makes patients involved in their caring, to attenuate the load of the disease. The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of health belief-based educational intervention on metabolic indices in patients with diabetes type II in rural areas. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was carried out as a quasi-experimental during January-June 2018 on 48 diabetic patients in the rural areas of Kermanshah province of Iran. The patients were grouped into intervention and control groups. The intervention was conducted based on the health belief model in six sessions. Data were collected using a demographics questionnaire and a metabolic indices checklist before and 3 months after the education. Data were analyzed using SPSS24. RESULTS: In this study, there was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of demographics and diabetes metabolic indices (P > 0.05) in the baseline. However, glycated hemoglobin (P = 0.038) and fasting blood glucose levels (P = 0.006) were decreased in the intervention group 3 months after finishing the program. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of BMI, cholesterol, triglyceride, low-density lipoprotein, and high-density lipoprotein after intervention. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that education based on the health belief model can significantly reduce blood glucose levels in diabetic patients, with some lasting effects. Given the chronic nature of diabetes and the challenges of providing care in rural areas, it is recommended that educational programs for diabetic patients in these regions be designed using the health belief model approach. In addition, further studies are suggested to explore the impact of such educational programs on diabetic patients in urban settings.