ABSTRACT
Background: Urinary tract infection [UTI] is one of the most common infections seen in all age and both sex groups which frequently occur among adolescent and young women. UTIs are the second most common cause of emergency department attendance for adolescents. Considering the importance of promoting preventive behaviors of UTI, we aimed to evaluate the effect of peer education based on health belief model [HBM] on preventive behaviors of UTI among first-grade high school female students
Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, we recruited 168 first-grade high school girl students who were assigned into intervention [n=84] and control [n=84] groups. Data were collected using an HBM questionnaire which was designed by the researcher based on the review of the literature; before, immediately after and one month after the intervention. A total of 12 students in the intervention groups were selected as peer educator and attended two 2-hour training sessions for one week and were trained by the researcher. Afterwards, the trained peers taught the learned materials to their peers in two 1-hour sessions for two weeks through conferences and question-andanswer sessions. Data were analyzed by SPSS18 using t test and RMANOVA. The significance level was set at <0.05
Results: The results showed that the mean scores of knowledge, HBM constructs and preventive behaviors related to UTI significantly increased in the participants of intervention group immediately after and one month after the intervention.[P<0.001]
Conclusion: Peer education based on HBM seem to promote preventive behaviors related to UTI and reduce the risk of the disease among students