Evaluating an Educational Program on School Injury Prevention among High School Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students, Using Health Belief Model

Students are one of the vulnerable groups to injuries. The deaf and hard of hearing students may also be more vulnerable due to their disability. This study was conducted through the developing, implementing and evaluating an educational program on school injury preven-tion among high school deaf and hard of hearing students, using Health Belief Model. This Quasi-experimental study was conducted among all deaf and hard of hearing students in Hamadan city of Iran, who were studied in two their related special schools, in 2014. They were randomly divided into two experimental (n=23) and control (n=27) groups. Data were collected via questionnaire including questions on demographics, Health Belief Model constructs and students’ knowledge and preventive behaviors. Questionnaires were filled out, through interview in both groups, before and two months after the intervention. The intervention included a designed booklet and five educational sessions. Data was analyzed by Paired T-test, independent T-test, Chi-Square and Fisher Test using SPSS-16. The findings revealed that after educational intervention, the mean scores of the student's knowledge (P=0.002), preventive behaviors (P=0.001) constructs of Health Belief Model, including perceived severity (P=0.001), perceived benefits (P=0.001), self-efficacy (P=0.001) and cues to action (P=0.001) were significantly improved in experimental group, comparing with control group. The results of the study showed that an educational intervention based on the Health Be-lief Model can improve school injury preventive behaviors among deaf and hard of hearing students.