RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: High blood pressure effects on patients' life. One of the problems in controlling blood pressure is lack of self-care. As a primary form of care, self-care is under patients' control and the patient's belief plays an important role in self-care behaviors. Using the Health Belief Model, this study aimed to determine the effect of educational program on self-care behaviors of rural patients afflicted with hypertension in Toyserkan city. METHODS: This study was a quasi-experimental research. It studied 100 hypertensive patients in four health centers in rural areas in Toyserkan city in 2019. The samples were simple random sampling among those people referred to the four health centers. Participants in the intervention group attended three training sessions, but the control group did not take part in any training program. The assessment was conducted in both groups before and after the intervention through personal interviews with patients. The questionnaire including the Health Belief Model and self-care behavior constructs was administered. RESULTS: Perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, self-efficacy and self-care behavior constructs did not have significant statistical differences in terms of mean scores before intervention between the two groups, but after intervention, there were statistically significant differences between the two groups. Examining the model factor in predicting self-care in the intervention group showed that the perceived severity and self-efficacy constructs had the highest predictive power. CONCLUSION: The results showed that planning and intervention based on HBM, as the models that were used in education and health promotion could be effective in achieving better performance and attitude of patients suffering from hypertension and their self-care. Also, special mention is needed to health care providers to improve self-care training in patients with high blood pressure.