The Effectiveness of Education Based on "Health Belief Model" on the Illness Perception and Respiratory Quality in Patients with Asthma

Patients with asthma have a weak perception of their illness which seems to affect the respiratory quality in patients. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of education based on the "Health Belief Model" on the illness perception and respiratory quality in patients with asthma.

The research method was quasi-experimental with pre-test, post-test, and follow-up design with the control group. The statistical population of this study included patients with asthma referred to Shahid Fayaz -Bakhsh Hospital in Tehran in 2020. Among them, 30 were selected by purposive sampling method and randomly assigned to two groups of intervention and control. The research instruments included a demographic questionnaire, the “Illness Perception Questionnaire”, and the “St. George Respiratory Questionnaire”. The content validity of the instruments was measured by qualitative method and the reliability by internal consistency method by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient. After performing 6 training sessions for the intervention group, the data were analyzed in SPSS. 24.

The effect of group (F=16.69), time (F=176.97) and interactive effect of time * groups (F=129.43) were significant for the illness perception variable at the level of 0.01 (P=0.001). The effect of group (F=20.19) at the level of 0.05 (P= 0.013) and time (F=163.14) and the interactive effect of time * groups (F= 104.65) for the variable of respiratory quality in patients was significant at the level of 0.01 (P = 0.001). 

Education based on the "Health Belief Model" was effective in improving the illness perception and the respiratory quality in patients in patients with asthma. Therefore, health officials and specialists are recommended to provide behavioral interventions such as “Health Belief Model” for patients with asthma along with medical treatments.