Objective: A Health Belief Model seems promising as a framework for examining contraceptive behavior. The aim of this study
was to examine the effect of application of a Health Belief Model on changing mothers’ beliefs regarding birth spacing in rural
areas.
Methods: Design: A quasi experimental pre-post-test design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of application of a Health
Belief Model on changing mothers’ beliefs regarding birth spacing. Subjects: A simple random sample of 150 postpartum
women were selected from the Maternal Child Health centers at El Hmoul and Shobra Blola villages, Menouf at Menoufia
Governorate, Egypt. Instruments: (1) A Birth Spacing Interview Questionnaire to assess socio demographic data, reproductive
history, knowledge about birth spacing, and mothers’ practices regarding birth spacing; (2) Perceived Benefits Questionnaire to
assess a Health Belief Model constructs such as perceived susceptibility, seriousness, benefits, barriers, health motivation and
cues to action.
Results: It was illustrated that regarding the perception of benefits of using contraception, 94% of the subjects agreed that benefits
outweighed side effects and 100% of the subjects agreed that using contraceptive improved maternal health. Regarding the
perception of barriers of using contraceptives, 90% of the subjects disagreed that using contraceptive increased their susceptibility
to cancer.
Conclusions: Application of a Health Belief Model proved to be effective in changing the health beliefs about birth spacing