Samera Radmerikhi - MSc, Department of Health Education, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran
Vahid Ahmadi Tabatabaei - MD, PhD, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of MedicalSciences, Kerman, Iran
Yunes Jahani - PhD,Modeling in Health Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences,Kerman, Iran
Afsaneh Rajizadeh - Health Services Management Research Center, Institute for Futures Studies in Health, Kerman University of MedicalSciences, Kerman, Iran

Background: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are one of the major causes ofmortality in the world. Incidence of such diseases has a direct relationship withlifestyle and nutrition. So, this study was conducted to investigate and compareknowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy of Kerman residents towards eatingbehaviors preventing CVD. Methods: In this descriptive-analytic cross-sectionalstudy, 400 men and women aged 20 to 60 years were randomly selected. A 31-item questionnaire on knowledge, attitude, and self-efficacy regarding eatingbehaviors affecting CVD was used to collect the data. A panel of expertsconfirmed validity of the questionnaire. The questionnaire’s internal reliabilitywas confirmed through Cronbach s alpha coefficient (0.84) and test-retestmethod (0.71). Results: The study population included 202 women (54.9%) and166 men (45.1%). The overall average scores of perceived knowledge, attitude,and self-efficacy out of 100, were respectively 84.15 ± 10.7, 47.84 ± 7.67, and59.1 ± 16.57. In all three cases there was a significant difference between menand women (P < 0.05). Men with higher university education had a betterattitude and knowledge about health condition; this was effective on men’s selfefficacy.Being a full-time employee also increased women s self-efficacy.Conclusion: Although knowledge of the studied population was appropriate andtheir self-efficacy was in the middle level, the participants attitude was poor.Self-efficacy of women was significantly higher than men and proper eatingbehavior was affected by attitudes, skills, and environmental factors.

Knowledge; Attitude; Self-efficacy; Eating behaviors; Cardiovascular diseases