Background: Effective management of type 2 diabetes poses a significant public, medical
and behavioral health challenge, predominantly with the high prevalence attributable to unhealthy
lifestyle behaviors. Aim: This study aimed to assess the effect of applying a health belief model
(HBM) on type 2 diabetic patients' knowledge, self-care practices, and health beliefs. Research
Design: A quasi-experimental pre and post-test, one-group only design was utilized for this study.
Setting: This study was carried out at the diabetic outpatient clinics affiliated with the Medical
Specialized Hospitals/Mansoura University, Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt. Subjects: A purposive
sample of 72 type 2 diabetic patients who agreed to participate in the study was utilized. Tools of
data collection: Four structured interview sheets were designed, namely (socio-demographic,
knowledge, self-care practices, and health beliefs). The results: The study results revealed highly
statistically significant differences with an improvement in total patients' knowledge and self-care
practices' score in post-educational intervention based on HBM as compared with pre-intervention.
Additionally, post-intervention, the mean score of each HBM constructs: susceptibility, severity,
benefits, cues to action, and self-efficacy were increased significantly (except the barriers construct
which was declined) compared to pre-intervention (P-value <0.000). Conclusion: The application
of the HBM model was proved to be effective in increasing knowledge, promoting the self-care
practices and health beliefs of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Recommendations: Increasing
people's awareness of their disease, treatment adherence, adopting a healthy lifestyle via education
and training classes should be emphasized. Besides, supporting, continuous, and well-designed
training programs for healthcare professionals should be established to apply HBM on chronic
disease prevention and control.