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Introduction: World health organization has proclaimed the prevalence of smoking among 15 years old European region students, more than 24 percent. The cigarette smoking indicator in our country among over 15 years old individuals is 11.9 percent and in the province under survey is 15.6 percent. This research has been performed in order to study the effect of health education program based on health belief model (H.B.M) on preventive actions of smoking in middle school students. Materials and Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study, done on 248 students of grade one in middle schools of Boukan city (119 boys and 129 girls) that were randomly divided into experimental and control groups. Data collection tool was a questionnaire including 77 questions based on health belief model (perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits and perceived barriers to smoking, and cues to action) and preventive actions of smoking. After data collection in the first stage, action was taken with regard to educational intervention and then in the second stage (after the intervention), data was collected again. Data was analyzed using T test. Results: Results showed that the mean score of all parts of health belief model in experimental group(except for perceived barriers) after educational intervention compared to before intervention was increased significantly and also the mean score of all parts of HBM after intervention was significantly increased in experimental group compared to control group. Conclusion: The results of this survey show that by increasing the score of health belief model parts including, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity and perceived benefits, adopting preventive actions of smoking also increases. Therefore, the results of this survey confirm the efficiency of health belief model in adopting preventive actions of smoking.

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Introduction: Nowadays drug abuse is an important problem in the world. Existing data show that using drugs especially pseudo-amphetamine compounds have increased and it seems necessary to determine the knowledge of high risk groups especially youths in this field. The aim of this study is to survey knowledge and attitude of students in Arak University of medical sciences based on Health Belief Model. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional analythical study which was carried out on 100 students of medical, nursing- midway and pre-medical schools in 2006.This survey was done by completing a questionnaire including 53 questions base on health belief model. Data was analyzed using Chi square and Mann-Whitney U tests. Results: The mean age of samples was 22/3(±3/18) years which 67 persons were female. The highest obtained score was related to perceived sensivity and had a meaningful relationship with action (p<0.05). Based on student's opinion of cues to action, TV was the most important resoure in education about Ecstasy. Conclusion:Beased on findings and regarding the meaningful relationship of percieved susceptibility (the danger of using Ecstasy) with action, it is better to provide educational program to prepare youngsters minds about perceived sensivity.

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Abstract Background: Side effects of drugs were increased with intractable consumption and this fact is more important in women during pregnancy and lactation period. The aim of this study has been determined the effect of education based on Health Belief Model on self-medication in mothers referring to health centers of Arak. Materials and Methods: In this clinical trial study, 300 mothers referring to health centers of Arak were participated. Data were collected with a questionnaire based on Health Belief Model and a performance checklist about drugs intractable consumption. Before educational intervention, questionnaires and checklists for both groups were completed and then intervention was done during 1 month in 4 sessions, 60 minutes. Data again were collected and then analyzed 3 month after intervention in both groups. Results: Before educational intervention, the rate of knowledge, perceived susceptibility, severity, and benefit of self medication were in the mediate level and the mother's performance about drug intractable consumption were more than mediate. After educational intervention, between two groups had significant difference in all variables and mothers performance in self-medication was reduced (p<0.05). Conclusion: By increasing in mean score of Health Belief Model parts, including: knowledge, perceived susceptibility, severity, and benefit, performance in field of self-medication was reduced. Recommended, training based on this model carried out in other health centers for reducing drugs intractable consumption.

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Background: This study was designed to investigate on efficacy of metacognitive–behavioral therapy (MCBT) on panic beliefs of panic female patients. Materials and Methods: This is a clinical- trial study. The participants, who were 24 panic female patients diagnosed with panic disorder, were selected from 76 panic patients referring to psychiatric clinics. The participants were randomly assigned in to two experimental and control groups. The data were gathered using the panic belief questionnaire which was completed in pretest, posttest and follow-up stages by the participants. MCBT was conducted in 8 sessions on the experimental group while the control group, in addition to the reception of common medical treatments, was laid in waiting list for psychological therapy. Results: According to the results of covariance analysis, the mean of panic beliefs scores obtained in the experimental group were significantly lower than those of the control group (p< 0.05). Conclusion: Panic female patients who attended in MCBT acquired lower scores in panic belief than the control group. Therefore, the results demonstrate that MCBT approach causes to keduce panic beliefs in panic female patients.

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Background: Inappropriate feeding is one of the major causes of malnutrition in children. This study was carried out to get an insight into mothers’ views and beliefs about the role of complementary feeding in children under the age of two. Materials and Methods: In this qualitative study, data were collected through 11 focus-group discussions (FGDs) with mothers, who had children under the age of two, in urban and rural areas of Damavand in 2007. Each FGD was held in the presence of a moderator, two note takers, and an observer. At the end of field work, all notes were collected and coded according to the objectives of the study. Then the subgroups for each objective were obtained, and emerging themes were extracted and reported. Results: In the study, six general themes were identified:(1) The mothers viewed complementary feeding as simple, soft, light foods which are especially made for children (2) the best time for introducing complementary feeding was 6 months of age (3) there were no complementary local foods in Damavand (4) for children under the age of one, a different type of food was separately prepared (5) home-made complementary food was preferred over the ready made type, and (6) children were fed with table food from the first year of life. Conclusion: Despite their sufficient knowledge about the advantages of complementary feeding, the majority of mothers, due to some socio-cultural limitations, had a weak performance. In this regard, in addition to making revisions in current training programs and protocols, providing effective and goal-oriented educational programs for mothers and others who take care of children is strongly recommended.

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Background: The purpose of this study was to identify the effect of health education according to health belief model (HBM) on the adoption of preventive behaviors of infection with giardia lamblia by primary school students in Arak. Materials and Methods: In a randomized quasi-experimental case study, 1200 students were randomly divided into two equal groups of test (instruction) and control (non-instruction). The sample size for giardiosis identification tests included 300 students, who had been equally and randomly selected from the control and test groups. Health education was according to HBM and its impact on the students' lifestyle-related patterns of behavior was considered. Results: Paring nails in the test group, significantly increased after education while it decreased significantly in the control group. The number of students who carried a glass for drinking slightly increased, but it remarkably decreased in the control group. The number of students who applied soap after using the restrooms remarkably increased in both the test and control groups. The relationship between not paring nails and infection with giardia lamblia was statistically significant. Additionally, after education, the ratio of reduction of infection with giardia lamblia in the test group to its increase in the control group was statistically significant. Conclusion: Preventive behaviors significantly improved and appeared influential in the reduction of infection with giardia lamblia. Thus, using a HBM in prevention of parasitic infections along with instructing the parents are suggested for prevention of parasitic infections.

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Background: Self-medication is one of the existing problems in the treatment cycle of patients that with aging and increased drug use, its side effects increase. The purpose of this study was to assess the factors influencing self-medication among elderly urban centers in Zarandieh based on Health Belief Model Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 180 elderly individuals (95 females and 85 males) over 60 in Zarandieh. Data collection tools were a questionnaire designed based on HBM model (perceived susceptibility/ severity, and perceived benefits/barriers) and self-medication checklist. Results: The prevalence of self- medication in the elderly was 31% (33% women and 29% men). The most common reasons for self-medication were previous experience of the disease and its recognition (61%), availability of drugs (60.5%), and good result of their previous treatment (56.7%). There was a significant difference in awareness, sensitivity, severity, perceived benefits and barriers among people with or without self-medication history (P< 001). Conclusion: Noticing the side effects of drugs and the high prevalence of self-medication among elderly, designing educational programs for changing the awareness and beliefs of elderly regarding self-medication is recommended.

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Background: Brucellosis is a major zoonotic disease with worldwide distribution. The prevalence of this disease has decreased in developed countries however, in developing countries, it is still prevalent. The aim of study was to determine the effect of a health belief model (HBM) based educational program on the empowerment of rural women in Zarandieh in prevention of brucellosis. Materials and Methods: In a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test/post-test design, 141 rural women were randomly selected and assigned to experimental and control groups. The educational program was implemented for the experimental group. Data were gathered by a researcher-made questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS software version 16. Results: Demographic variables of the two groups were similar before education. In addition, there were no significant differences between the experimental and control groups with regard to mean knowledge, HBM constructs, and performance however, the post-test revealed significant differences in terms of the mean of variables between the two groups (P<0.001). Conclusion: The HBM based educational program is effective in women’s empowerment and also promoting women’s beliefs and performance regarding brucellosis therefore, the findings of this study may be used as a framework in designing zoonotic diseases prevention programs

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Background: Considering the lack of a standardized and validated questionnaire on oral health care for pregnant women based on a specific behavioral pattern, the aim ofthis study was development and psychometric assessment of an oral health instrument based on Health Belief Model in pregnant women. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on 340 pregnant women in Arak city. After reviewing the related literature, the instrument was designed and its content validity ratio, content validity index, face validity, and exploratory factor analysis were measured. For measuring the reliability of the scales, three methods, including test-retest, internal consistency, and agreement, were used. Data analysis was done using SPSS software. Results: The reliability of the 61 items was evaluated with impact score of 1.5 and the content validity index of 0.79 and based on exploratory factor analysis were classified into seven categories. The overall reliability measured through Cronbach alpha was 0.84. The reliability of the questionnaire was 0.88, perceived susceptibility was 0.73, severity was 0.70, perceived benefits was 0.75, perceived barriers was 0.71, the cues to action was 0.72, and self-efficacy was 0.76. Kappa coefficients were determined with a high performance for checklists. Conclusion: This study provided good evidence of the strength factor structure and reliability of Health Belief Model structures about oral health behaviors in the vulnerable group of pregnant women, according to the study of psychometrics process.

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Background: Planning of educational programs to inform the people about the prevention of diseases such as cancers is necessary. This study was conducted to determine the effect of educational interference based on HBM on practices of women about gastric cancer.

Materials and Methods: In this semi-experimental study, 88 women participated from Arak. The subject were randomly divided in two groups, experimental group and control group (each group includes 44 women). Inclusion criteria were absence of cancer, Iranian nationality, age over 18 years, living in the city. Data collected with a questionnaire based on HBM and performance checklist about colorectal cancer prevention was used in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the educational program. Intervention was done in 1 month consist of 3 session each session 45 minutes. Three months later data were recollected and analyzed.

Results: In this study, the mean age in case and control group was 38.3±9.6 and 36.3±11.1 years respectively, with no significant differences (p=0.381). Average scores of knowledge and practice in experimental was 72.8±13.06 and 30.81±6.2 respectively group before the intervention, which was 88.05±12.2 and 65.3±8.9 respectively after the intervention (p<0.05). Moreover before of intervention susceptibility, severity and percieved benefit about practice of mothers was moderate but after intervention the entire items between experimental and control groups was significantly different (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Finding of this research confirms the effect of Health Belief Model on prevention from gastrointestinal cancer in women of Arak.

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Background: Accidents and injuries one of the main causes of death and disability in the world and the most significant causes in children referred to hospital. So, this study aimed to assess the health belief model constructs and function of the mothers referred to health centers in the city of Khorramabad in the preventive behaviors of accidents and injuries in children.

Materials and Methods: This cross sectional and analytical study was done on 261 mothers with children aged less than 5 years are referred to health centers in the city of Khorramabad in 2014. Data was collected with a questionnaire based on the Health Belief Model. The data collected were analyzed by software SPSS-20.

Results: In this study the mean and standard deviation of age of mothers was 28.98±5.37 years and the mean score of function and self-efficacy were 59.1±14.74 and 69.1±11.07 respectively. Moreover, the mean scores of the other health belief model constructs such as perceived sensitivity, severity, benefits and barriers was higher than average. There was significant negative correlation between self-efficacy and perceived barriers (r=-0.256, p<0.01), and also between the perceived barriers and function (r=-0.391, p<0.01).

Conclusion: According to the score of the function of mothers and the other constructs of health belief model, training programs based on the model directly and indirectly in the form of multimedia training package recommended to promote preventive behaviors of accidents occur in children.

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  Background: M others must gain enough knowledge and practice about danger signs in children to achieve behavior change. Knowing such factors influencing behavior change will facilitate change. So, training about danger signs in children using models that identify the factors influencing behavior is essential. Health belief model is one of the effective models in education. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess the effect of education on behavior of mothers about danger signs in children less than five years.

  Materials and Methods: This is an educational trial study that was conducted on 116 mother with children under five years old referring to treatment health centers in Arak city in 2014. They were divided into two groups case (n=56 ) and control ( n=60 ) randomly.

  The data collected by filling the valid and reliable questionnaire that reseatcher made along with interview. An educational intervention was conducted in case group during the four learning sessions. Three months after educational intervention, post-test was conducted by filling questionnaire. Finally, data were analyzed by SPSS software in significance level of p<0/05.

  Results: There was no significant difference between mean score of health belief model construct and behavior in the experimental and control groups before the intervention(p<0.05) , but significant differences were shown after intervention(p<0.001). The mean score of the mothers in the intervention group before and after intervention was 39.58±42.15, and 84.52±23.05 respectively, that showed significant differences (p<0.001).

  Conclusion: According to the results of this study, educational intervention based on initial assessment on Health Belief Model was effective in improving mothers' practice about danger signs in children. Thus, it can be helpful to design training programs.

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Background: Today, environmental pollutants are one of the most important human problems. The purpose of this study was to assess the health belief model structures for promotion of preventive behaviors in pregnant women exposed to air pollution in Arak city in 2014.

Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 208 pregnant women referred to healthcare centers in Arak city were selected by multistage sampling and were studied. Data were collected by using a valid and reliable self- report questionnaire. The questionnaire included the demographic characteristics of the mother, the aspects of the HBM model, and the maternal practice checklist. Finally, the data were analyzed.

Results: The mean age of subjects was 26.48 ±4.77 and the mean gestational age was 14.88 ±5.59 weeks. The highest level of education for pregnant women (47.1%) was a diploma. The mean practice score was 72.9 and among the structures, the highest and the lowest score was obtained for perceived susceptibility(83.25) and barriers(59.16), respectively. To predict the hehavior by using the HBM structures, regression analysis showed that of the studied variables, the external practice guides, perceived susceptibililty, and barriers are as behavior predictive predictive agents that totally, predicted 26% (R2=0.265) of behavior changes.

Conclusion: According to the results of the study, the design of educational interventions should be based on the external practice guides, perceived susceptibility and barriers structures as the most important predictors of maternal behavior.

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Background: One of the common and important public health problems is failure to thrive in during childhood .The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between health belief model structures with mothers' performance in preventihg growth retardation in children aged 1-5 years in Shazand city in 2014.

Materials and Methods: In this analytical and cross-sectional study, 202 mothers with children aged one to five years in the Shazand city were selected by random sampling. The data were collected by using a researcher-developed valid and reliable questionnaire by self-report method. The questionnaire included demographic characteristics of the mothers, the maternal practice cheklist and health belief model dimensions. Finally, the data were analyzed by SPSS20 T-test, Chi-square, correlation, ANONV and regression.

Results: The mean age of subjects was 28.76±5.28 years and a mean age of children was 26.49±14.74 months. Most common level of education for mothers was diploma (76.7%). The mean score of mothers' behavior was 70.65. Among the structures, self- efficacy had the largest score(69.8) and external practice guide had the lowest (38.91). In regression analysis, for predicting behavior by health belief model stuctures, self efficacy, perceived benefits and barriers were main predictors of behavior that predicted 10% of behavior changes(R²=0.101).

Conclusion: The results of this study reveale that the design of educational interventions should be based on self-efficacy, perceived benefits and perceived barriers as the most important predictors of maternal behavior.

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Background: Diabetes is one of the most common disease resulted from metabolism disorders. Thus, Studying medication adherence in patients to explain educational interventions to improve the health of these patients is necessary. Therefore, the present study aimed to assess the factors affecting medication adherence in diabetics patients based on health belief model in Arak 2014.

Materials and Methods: In this analytical study, 366 diabetic patients in Arak in 2014 were selected and data were collected through a researcher made questionnaire about patients behavior in the field of medication adherence and its influencing factors based on the health belief model. Linear regression model was used to determine the predictive power of structures.

Results: The mean knowledge score and the medication adherence was 31.34 and 84.34, respectively. In this study, perceived susceptibility, perceived barriers and internal action guide were as the strongest predictors of medication adherence behavior in patients and predicted their behavior variance 0.36. Between function and susceptibility and severity and perceived benefits and self- efficacy of manual internal and external action guides in the field of medication adherence with diabetes, there was a direct correlation that the highest correlation was related to the perceived susceptibility structure (r=0.42 , p<0.001).

Conclusion: The results showed that the educational interventions with an emphasis on building the perceived sensitivity of patients with diabetes for medication adherence and emphasis on internal incentives as motivators and incentives for patients to achieve better results in the field of medication adherence should be at the heart of educational interventions.

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Abstract

Background: One of the common and important health problems is failure to thrive in childhood. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of education on preventive behaviors of failure to thrive in mothers with children based on health belief model.

Materials and Methods: This study is an interventional one in which 100 mothers with children one to five years involved (samples divided into two case and control groups, each of 50) sampling was done by a simple random method. For collecting information, a researcher-made questionnaire based on the health belief model and performance check list were used. Then, case group was trained for one month. 3 months after training, data were gathered and analyzed by Spss20 software. In addition to descriptive statistics, tests such as Chi-square, paired t-test and independent T-test were used.

Results: The mean age of case and control was 29.98±5.51 and 25.35±5.30 years old, respectively. The average age of children was 23.31 ± 13.14 and 27.55 ± 14.01months, respectively. Before the intervention, no significant difference was seen between groups. The average score in case group before intervention was as: knowledge(31.87±14.24), perceived susceptibility(64.23±5.86), perceived severity(64.41±9.34), perceived benefits(61.75±6.79), perceived barriers(67.91±8.14), self-efficacy(68.00±7.87), cues to action(44.53±6.82) and action(70.00±9.77). However, after the intervention, significant differences between groups in all variables were obserred.

Conclusion: According to the results, education based on health belief model is recommended for promoting preventive behaviors of failure to thrive.

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Background and Aim: Diabetes is a chronic disease that physiological, cognitive, behavioral, emotional and social factors play a role in preventing, risk and regulating it. This research aimed to predict blood glucose control by the use of irrational health beliefs and health locus of control in patients with type 2 diabetes. Materials and Methods: The research population consisted of all type 2 diabetic patients referring to the two centers of Alzahra School of Charity Hospital and Diabetes Research Institute of Tehran University of Medical Sciences that 300 patients were chosen as sample by convenience sampling method. Data were gathered by using Multidimensional Health Locus of Control Scale (MHLC) and Irrational Health Belief Scale (IHBS) and analyzed by regression. Ethical Considerations: This study was approved in Research Ethics Committee of biomedical researches in Tehran Universiry with the code IR.ut.Rec.1395.030. Findings: There is a significant correlation between the predictive variables of irrational health beliefs (p <0.05), inner locus of control and others (p <0.05), and chance locus of control (p <0.01). The results also indicate that the health locus of control and Irrational beliefs predict significantly the changes in the amount of glucose (R=19, R2=0.037, F(4. 293)=2.80, p<0.05). Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, we can say that by identifying the health locus of control and irrational health beliefs, it is possible that blood glucose level can be predicted in patients with type 2 diabetes and reduced the consequences of diabetes in people with it.

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Background and Aim: The main purpose of this study was to compare the metacognitive beliefs of people with hypochondriasis Covid 19 and normal people.
Methods & Materials: In this research, the causal-comparative method has been used. The statistical population of the study included all people with hypochondriasis disorder Covid 19 in Arak, based on this, 30 people from the population with this disorder and 30 people from the normal population were selected by available sampling method and based on Age and education were matched. Data were collected based on the short form of the 1997 Wells Metacognition Questionnaire (MCQ-30). Multivariate analysis of variance was used to analyze the data.
Ethical Considerations: The present study has been registered with the code IR.IAU.ARAK.REC.1399.036 in the ethics committee of Islamic Azad University Arak branch. 
Results: There was a significant difference between metacognitive beliefs in patients with hypochondriasis covid 19 and normal individuals (P<0.001). These patients were significantly different from normal individuals in the components of positive beliefs about worry, negative beliefs about thought control, self-awareness, cognitive uncertainty, and the need to control thoughts. And in the components of positive beliefs about anxiety, negative beliefs. They got higher scores on controlling thoughts and cognitive self but on the components of cognitive uncertainty and the need to control thoughts compared to normal people.
Conclusion: Hypochondriasis disorder causes many problems for the individual and the health system, so by recognizing the dysfunctional metacognitive beliefs of these patients, metacognitive therapy can be an effective treatment for this disorder.

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