Applying the health belief model and behavior of diabetic patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

The patient’s belief and knowledge about his or her illness is the most important factor of disease control; the aim of present study is to perform a systematic review-based meta-analysis of health belief and its dimension’s mean score in diabetic patients. The present systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted in 2020. Data were gathered by searching the Google Scholar, Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Science Direct databases from 2010 to 2020. Key words were “health belief”, “HBM”, “diabetic patients”, “diabetes mellitus”. To estimate the pooled score of health belief and its dimensions, the randomeffects meta-analysis was performed using STATA 15. The presence of heterogeneity across the studies was assessed with the I2 statistic. A forest plot was used to report the results. The mean health belief obtained from the two methods, fixed (3.422, 95% CI: 3.128–3.716) and random (3.422, 95% CI: 3.128–3.716) what are the same, is the same. The strongest dimension is “perceived benefits” with an mean (3.8) and the weakest dimension is “perceived sensitivity” with an mean (3.0). Conclusions. Policymakers and decision makers in the field of hygiene and controlling non-communicable diseases should focus on the role of patients’ awareness of their disease and try to improve it. In the meantime, the dimension of “perceived sensitivity” needs more attention. Strategies such as holding training classes and using technological infrastructure to promote this concept should be used.