Effects of Health Belief Model-based Education on Maternal Abilities to Caring for Children With Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder

Background: Health education, using new approaches in the nursing area, is of great importance. The current study aimed to evaluate the effects of a health belief model-based education on maternal abilities to caring for children with Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). Methods: This was a quasi-experimental non-randomized controlled trial with pre-test, post-test and a control group design. In total, 30 families with children with ARFID in Malang regency, Indonesia were divided into experimental (n=15) and control (n=15) groups. The experimental group was trained based on the Health Belief Model (HBM); however, the control group received an education based on the routine nursing process model. The necessary data were collected by a researcher-made questionnaire constructed based on HBM constructs. The obtained data were analyzed in SPSS. Descriptive statistics, homogeneity test, and Paired-Samples t-test were used to outline the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. Results: HBM effectively improved maternal abilities to manage eating disorders (P=0.009), promoting behaviors (P=0.000), and paternal involvement (P=0.000). Conclusion: HBM-Based education is recommended to be used in the provision of training in the mothers of children with ARFID