Effect of an Education Based on the Health Belief Model on Mothers’ Performance in Providing Sexuality Education to Children Publisher

Summary: Can brief training help mothers teach child sexuality education? A quasi-experimental study of 72 mothers found improvements in education-related measures. #ParentEducation #ChildHealth

Moghanian M ; Tehrani T D ; Nasiri H ; Boroumandfar Z
Source: Journal of Holistic Nursing and Midwifery Published:2026

Abstract

Introduction: Sexuality education is one of important rights of children. Mothers, as the first caregivers of children, often do not have the necessary knowledge and competence to provide sexuality education to their children. Objective: The present study aimed to determine the effect of an educational program based on the Health Belief Model (HBM) on mothers’ performance in providing sexuality education to their children. Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted on 72 mothers referring to four comprehensive health centers in Isfahan, Iran, in 2020. They were selected by a convenience method and randomly divided into two groups of intervention (n=36) and control (n=36). In the intervention group, four training sessions were held regarding child sexual education based on the HBM. Individual characteristics and constructs of the HBM were measured by a researcher-made questionnaire before, immediately after, and 6 weeks after the intervention. The data were analyzed using independent t-test, chi-square test, Mann-Whitney U test, repeated measures analysis of variance, Bonferroni’s post-hoc test, and Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Results: Most of mothers in the intervention (63.9%) and control (72.2%) groups had a university education. In both groups, the number of children were equally 18 girls and 18 boys. In the intervention group, the mean scores of perceived threats, perceived benefits, perceived barriers and self-efficacy before intervention were; 1.61±7.64, 19.89±0.67, 7.92±2.8 and 19.97±0.17, immediately after intervention were; 19.92±0.5, 19.94±0.23, 15.42±1.18, 19.92±0.28 and 6 weeks after the intervention were; 16.11±1.53, 15.33±1.24, 4.25±0.6 and 19.83±0.38, respectively. There was statistically significant difference in two groups in perceived threats (P=0.001), benefits (P=0.001), barriers (P=0.043), and self-efficacy (P=0.001), immediately and 6 weeks post-intervention (P=0.001). Also, after the educational intervention, a significant difference was observed in all HBM constructs between the two groups (P=0.001) except for the perceived barriers. Conclusion: The results highlighted the effectiveness of the HBM-based education program in promoting mothers’ performance in providing sexuality education to their children. The findings can be beneficial for teachers and health counselors who are involved in designing educational and counseling programs related to children’s mental health. Copyright © 2026 The Author(s); This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-By-NC 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode.en), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.