effectiveness of educational programs to promote nutritional knowledge in type ii diabetes patients based on health belief model

background: nutritional education is a necessity in diabetic patients to better control of the disease. the aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of educational programs to promote nutritional knowledge in type ii diabetes patients using the health belief model (hbm). methods: this was a quasi-experimental study which was performed among type ii diabetic patients referred to rural health centers in gachsaran, iran. thus, after obtaining permission from officials of the health center in gachsaran city and coordination with rural health centers, two centers as the intervention group and two centers as the control group were randomly selected, and then for study enrollment, 140 of the patients (70 patients in control group and 70 patients in intervention group) were selected in simple random sampling method among the patients; intervention group received the intended educations and were taken final assessment after 3 months of educational intervention in both groups. findings: the results showed a statistical significant difference after the implementation of educational programs in the intervention group in the mean knowledge scores, perceived severity, perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits and perceived self-efficacy and decreased perceived barriers (p < 0.05). conclusion: the results demonstrated usefulness of implementing educational programs among intervention group concerning the promotion of nutritional knowledge.