The Effects of Education on Promoting Knowledge, Beliefs and Preventive Behaviors on Brucellosis among Women: Applying a Health Belief Model

Introduction: Brucellosis is one of the most common zoonosis diseases in the developing and undeveloped countries, with the adverse socio-economic status. This study aimed to assess the effect of health education intervention based on health belief model on promoting knowledge, beliefs, and preventive behaviors on brucellosis among women. Methods and Materials: In this quasi-experimental before-after study, 282 homemakers living in the west of Isfahan were chosen based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria. They were divided randomly into the case and control groups. The data were collected through questionnaires and checklists. Then, educational contents were designed and executed. It included five sessions using lecture, question, and answer session, group discussion and role-playing based on HBM constructs. Data were analyzed using SPSS 18 by Mann-U Whitney, t-student and paired t-test and p < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The results showed that before training, there was no significant difference between demographic variables and knowledge scores, performance and health belief model constructs between the two groups (P > 0.05). But immediately after and one month after the educational program based on Health Belief Model there was significant differences among the two groups (p < 0.001).The scores for knowledge and other components of health belief model in experimental group significantly increased after intervention compared to the control group. Conclusions: The results showed that the HBM-based educational intervention could promote knowledge, attitude, and behavior on prevention of brucellosis. Therefore, this model can be used as a framework for designing and executing educational intervention for prevention of brucellosis.