title: Effect of educating mothers on injury prevention among children aged <5 years using the Health Belief Model: a randomized controlled trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the effect of the Health Belief Model (HBM) on the education of mothers for promoting safety and preventing injury among children aged <5 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Randomized controlled trial.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was conducted in Hamadan City, West Iran in 2012. One hundred and twenty mothers participated in this study, divided into intervention and control groups (60 mothers in each group). The intervention group participated in an educational programme consisting of four 1-hour sessions twice per week. The education programme was based on the HBM. The participants of both groups were evaluated before the intervention and two months after the intervention using a questionnaire. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were tested with a pilot study. The questionnaire consisted of three parts: demographic characteristics; knowledge, practices and HBM constructs (perceived sensitivity, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action and self-efficacy); and history of recent injuries to the child. Student's t-test was used to compare the mean differences, and P < 0.05 was considered to indicate significance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  None of the 120 participants dropped out of the study. The mean differences in knowledge, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, self-efficacy and practices after the intervention, between the two groups, were 3.98, 3.57, 3.97, 1.57, -7.08, 0.82, 2.95 and 2.47, respectively. All differences were statistically significant (P = 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Educational programmes based on the HBM can be used as an effective approach in planning and developing preventive programmes for injury prevention and safety promotion in children aged <5 years.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cheraghi
authors.affiliation: Modelling of Non-communicable Diseases Research Centre, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Poorolajal
authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Health Sciences and Department of Public Health, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
authors.forename: S M M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Hazavehi
authors.affiliation: Research Centre for Health Sciences and Department of Public Health, School of Public Health, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran. Electronic address: f.rezapur@umsha.ac.ir.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rezapur-Shahkolai
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007492:Iran; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009035:Mothers / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012449:Safety; D020377:Self Efficacy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Child injury prevention; Health education; Health promotion; Iran; Safety promotion