Background and Objectives: Diabetes self-care leads to blood sugar control in diabetic patients. Adherence to medication is one of the methods of self-care. This research to improving medication adherence in type 2 diabetic patients in Zahedan based on the Health Action Process Approach model.

Materials & Methods: In this intervention study, 210 type 2 diabetic patients referred to diabetes clinics in Zahedan city in two intervention groups (105) and control group (105) were selected from the diabetes clinics of Zahedan hospitals in 2022. Sampling was done by available methods among diabetic patients. After collecting the data, a pre-test was conducted using the medication adherence questionnaire and the model constructs questionnaire. CVI = 0.7, CVR = 0.6 and Cronbach's alpha of the questionnaire was 0.97. One and three months after the educational intervention, the questionnaire on model structures and self-care behavior was completed by the patients and collected for analysis. Data were analyzed using independent t, Chi-square, and Shapiro-Wilk tests in SPSS version 23. A significance level of 0.05 was considered.

Results: The results showed that all the Health Action Process Approach model constructs including risk perception, outcome expectancies, behavioral intention, action self-efficacy, coping self-efficacy, recovery self-efficacy, action planning and coping planning, perceived barriers, perceived benefits, and self-care behavior had significant differences in one month and three months after the educational intervention (P<0.05), which indicated the effectiveness of the education in the intervention group. However, no significant difference was observed in the control group (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: The intervention with the Health Action Process Approach model showed that the structures of the model after the training had a significant impact on the self-care of patients in the field of medication compliance. Appropriate programs with details in the field of automatic coping self-efficacy and action planning should be designed to promote medication adherence among patients with type 2 diabetes.

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