Background & Aim: Patients adherence to medical recommendations requires new and effective strategies. Promoting self-efficacy is considered as an important measurement to help patients to participate in their own treatment protocol. This study was conducted to determine the effect of a nursing intervention on improving self-efficacy and reducing cardiovascular risk factors in patients with cardiovascular diseases in a public hospital in Urmia.

Methods & Materials: In this single group before/after study, 81 patients with at least two cardiovascular adjustable risk factors were recruited. The self-efficacy intervention was presented to the patients and one of their family members. The self-efficacy was scored before, immediately and one month after the intervention. The Cardiovascular risk factors were measured before and one year after the intervention. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA with repeated measures, paired t-tests, and McNemar test were used to analyze data.

Results: Overall self-efficacy scores and its sub-groups were significantly improved after one month. There were significant differences in the mean BMI, HDL, LDL, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, and weight before and one year after the intervention. The number of smokers and patients with hyperlipidemia were significantly decreased one year after the intervention. However, there were not significant differences in the number of overweight patients and patients with hypertension before and after the intervention.

Conclusion: Results showed that our intervention to improve self-efficacy had positive effect on the overall self-efficacy score and the scores of its subgroups. Our intervention was also effective in controlling cardiovascular risk factors and in reducing the frequency of smokers and patients with hyperlipidemia. It seems that combination of medical orders with self-efficacy improving interventions on patients and their families are influential in controlling cardiovascular risk factors.