In recent years, drought has had detrimental impacts on agricultural activities in Iran, so it is of crucial importance to employ drought-coping strategies. As such, the main idea of this research was to discover the factors affecting the use of preventive behaviors by farmers to cope with drought. This research can deepen agricultural decision-makers’ understanding of the use of drought management behaviors. The health belief model (HBM) was used as the theoretical framework for the study. The statistical sample was composed of 410 rainfed farms in Kerman province, Southeastern Iran, taken using the multi-stage technique with proportional allocation. The results of structural equation modeling showed that the variables of cues to action, self-efficacy, perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, and perceived benefits had the most significant impact on the adoption of drought-coping behaviors by farmers, mentioned in order of importance. Practically, the research provides a rationale for the use of HBM, and its results provide important policies to help decision-makers to sustain farmers’ livelihoods.

近年来，干旱对伊朗的农业活动产生了不利影响，因此采用应对干旱的策略至关重要。因此，本研究的主要思想是发现影响农民使用预防行为应对干旱的因素。这项研究可以加深农业决策者对干旱管理行为使用的理解。健康信念模型（HBM）被用作研究的理论框架。统计样本由伊朗东南部克尔曼省的 410 个雨养农场组成，采用多阶段技术按比例分配。结构方程模型的结果表明，行为线索、自我效能感、感知易感性、感知严重性、和感知收益对农民采用抗旱行为的影响最大，按重要性排序。实际上，该研究为 HBM 的使用提供了一个基本原理，其结果为帮助决策者维持农民的生计提供了重要的政策。