Background: Researchers believe that most of diabetic patients are not necessarily aware of the role of exercises, especially jogging in controlling their disease. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of educational program and jogging based on health belief model (HBM) on sugar control in type 2 diabetic patients.
Methods: One hundred diabetic (type 2) patients were involved in this prospective quasi-experimental interventional study. Patients were randomly divided into two groups of experimental and control. Data was collected using a questionnaire based on the HBM model, a check list for patient`s practices and a check list for recording the patient`s hemoglobin (HbA1C) and fasting blood sugar (FBS) levels.
Results: Our findings indicated that after intervention, there was a significant difference between the mean score of the HBM model variables (susceptibility, severity, benefit and perceived obstacles,) in the experimental group compared to the control group. Additionally, behavioral jogging, level of HbA1C and FBS levels improved significantly among the experimental group when compared to the control group.
Conclusion: Applying the HBM model was found to be a very effective means for developing an educational program of jogging for diabetics, in order to control their blood sugar.
Keywords: Health Belief model; Jogging; Type 2 DM.