Effect of Education Based on Health Belief Model on the Dietary Intake of Patients with a Myocardial Infarction

INTRODUCTION: Dietary modification significantly impacts reducing myocardial infarction (MI) mortality and its recurrence. This study aimed to investigate the effect of education on the dietary intake of patients with MI based on the health belief model. METHOD: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on patients with MI from October 2021 to January 2022. A total of 72 MI cases were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. The intervention group received an educational intervention based on the health belief model for three months in four sessions. The structures of the health belief model were measured using a questionnaire before the intervention and one and three months following it. Dietary intake was measured with a three-day dietary record before and after three months of the intervention. RESULTS: After the educational intervention, a significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of the average scores of awareness, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, and self-efficacy (P<0.01). However, no significant difference was observed concerning the perceived obstacles. Although there were no significant differences between dietary intake at the baseline, the intake of energy, cholesterol, and energy percent from carbohydrate, total fat, and saturated fatty acids were lower, and fiber intake was higher in the intervention group versus the control group after the intervention (all P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Given the positive effect of the health belief model in this study, it is suggested to use this model for designing education for MI patients focusing on nutrition.