effect of education on smoking prevention in students of zahedan

background: smoking is one of the most common causes of premature.death. the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of education using health belief model in the prevention of smoking in high school students of zahedan. methods: in this quasi-experimental study, 380 students selected through randomized cluster sampling method and randomized in two case and control groups. the data collecting tool was a questionnaire containing demographic questions, knowledge and attitude questions based on the health belief model structures. validity and reliability of the questionnaire was determined based on content validity and pre-tests from both studied groups. educational intervention in case group was a speech along with pamphlets. post test was performed two months after the intervention using the questionnaire. data analyzed using spss 18 software and chi-square, pearson correlation and t-student tests. findings: before intervention, the mean scores of knowledge, attitudes, interests, barriers, susceptibility, perceived severity, cues to action and self-efficacy were not significantly different in two studied groups. after intervention mean score of all mentioned variables of health belief model increased significantly in case group but it was not different in control group. conclusion: the results of this study indicated the effects of educational intervention based on health belief model structures in prevention of smoking behavior among the second base high-school students of zahedan.