فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Introduction: Rabies is a fatal zoonotic viral disease that is spread to people through animal bites.Around 35,000-50,000 individuals worldwide die of rabies each year, of which more than 99%of deaths occur in the developing countries. Since legislative actions does not appear to havebeen effective in reducing the incidence and severity of the bites in some developed countries, itseems public education is key to reducing animal bites. For effective education, understandingfactors affecting the preventive and protective behaviors based on appropriate health behaviorchange models is important. So, the study tried to examine the relationship between HealthBelief Model (HBM) constructs and rabies preventive measures. Materials and Methods: In thecross-sectional study, a HBM-based researcher-designed questionnaire was completed by204 participants who were selected via cluster sampling design from urban families of theAbadeh, Iran. The psychometric properties of the questionnaire were established. Descriptivestatistics, independent sample t-test, bivariate correlations, and stepwise multiple regressionanalysis were applied to analyze data using SPSS 19. The level of significance was set a prioriat 0.05. Results: The scale mean for the total knowledge of the participants about rabies was14.12 ± 6.04 out of 29. Participants’ preventive behaviors were significantly correlated with theirtotal knowledge, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits and cues toaction, which 19% of the variation in these behaviors were explained by perceived benefits andcues to action. Protective activities of participants who kept animals in their house had statisticallysignificant correlation with their total knowledge score and cues to action. 32.1% of the variationin these activities was explained by cues to action. Discussion: Findings indicate that participantshad not enough knowledge about routes of infecting by rabies and how to prevent it. The mostpowerful predictors for preventive behaviors and protective activities were perceived benefitsand cues to action, respectively, which indicate the importance of the availability of accurateinformation about efficacy of these behaviors, from sources that are easily accessible, suchas healthcare providers and veterinary professionals. Conclusion: Educational programs areneeded for increasing public knowledge inthis area. And more studies should be doneto determine predictive factors of rabiespreventive measures based on other healthbehavior change models.