The Effect of an Educational Intervention Based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) on Nutritional Performance Related to Gastric Cancer in Rural Women in Northern Regions of Iran

ABSTRACT

Gastric cancer is a common cause of cancer death in the world. This study examined 120 rural women. The educational program included four sessions for each group based on the health belief model. The mean age of the women was 34.51 ± 9.16. The mean score of the perceived barriers significantly decreased in the experimental group (11.08 ± 0.37) compared to the control group (14.92 ± 0.42) (P < .001), and the mean score of knowledge, performance and HBM constructs, increased significantly 2 months after the education (P < .001).It is recommended that educational interventions be designed by HBM to improve nutritional behaviors related to GC in the female population.

KEYWORDS:

• Cancer
• education
• gastric cancer
• health belief model
• women

Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the women devoted their time to the research, without whose contribution the present study would not have been completed. The Authors are grateful to Vice Chancellor for research, Guilan University of Medical Sciences for their assistance with study implementation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Availability of data and materials

All data generated during and/or analyzed during the study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

All participants were informed about the study and confidentiality protocols. Written Informed consent was obtained from all the participants. The study was conducted according to the guidelines and regulations of the Declaration of Helsinki. The Ethic Committee of Guilan University of Medical Sciences approved the study protocol (IR.GUMS.REC.1396.109).

Additional information

Funding

No financial support was received for this research.