Introduction:
Nutrition, an important component of health, promotes immune system function in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Considering that chronic diseases cause depression in these patients, we aimed to investigate the effectiveness of the information-motivation-behavioral skills (IMB) model in adherence to diet and depression among HIV-positive patients.

Material and methods:
This intervention was conducted among 122 HIV/AIDS patients over 18 years of age, who referred to the Behavioral Clinic of Kerman Province, Iran in 2018. The census sampling method was applied and 122 patients were selected. Later, the participants were divided into the intervention and control groups randomly. The educational intervention was performed according to the IMB model for the intervention group, while the control group did not receive any training program. Finally, the standard Beck Depression Inventory and the 24-hour recall questionnaire were administered among all participants prior to and 3 months after the intervention. Finally, the data were analyzed by SPSS 24 using descriptive analysis, the Mann-Whitney test, and the paired-sample t-test.

Results:
A total of 122 HIV/AIDS patients with an average age of 41.88 ± 9.46 years participated in the study. After the intervention, the mean energy intake (410.92 ± 103.37), total fat (24.08 ± 7.9), saturated fat (7.39 ± 0.80), and sugar (35.96 ± 13.70) intake decreased in the intervention group. The difference in depression scores was not significant before and after the intervention (p = 0.2) in HIV/AIDS patients who had depression (72.1%).

Conclusions:
The IMB model can be effective in promoting adherence to a healthy diet, but it failed to reduce depression in HIV patients. Therefore, these patients are recommended to attend group therapy counseling based on cognitive-social theory to reduce depression.