The Effect of Education, Based on Health Belief Model on Breast Self- Examination in Health Liaisons of Zarandieh City

Background: All women at any age are at risk of breast cancer and the risk will increase by
aging. Rapid diagnosis of breast cancer and prompt treatment will survive the lives of more than 90
percent of patients. There are definite documents that indicate breast self-examination is an
effective method for prevention of death, but many women do not perform it regularly based on
recommended screening programs.
Materials and Methods: In this before-after study, 106 health liaisons of Zarandieh city were
involved. All participants fulfilled a questionnaire about health beliefs and also a checklist about
their tasks. Then the training program started using speech methods, group discussion, video
presentation and practice program using an artificial model (mulaj). After 2 months of training, the
second test was performed using the primary questionnaire. The data analysis was performed by
SPSS software and P<0.0001 was significant.
Results: The Mean±SD of participants was 37±2 and their awareness about known risk factors of
breast cancer was 33 percent. The rate of breast self-examination before and after training
program was 19 and 60.2 percent respectively. About the components of health belief model, the
mean score of sensitivity, benefits and obstacles was low before training and the mean score of
threat intensity was intermediate. However, the mean score of all components increased after
training program (P<0.0001). Also, the mean score of checklist before and after training program
was 2.89 and 7.09 respectively (P<0.0001).
Conclusion: Our designed program for health education on the basis of health belief model was
effective to create an accurate behavior in breast self examination. The results of this survey
showed that performing breast self examination needs positive attitude. Thus, we recommend that
educational programs should be designed in such a way that can change the attitude of participants
so that improvements in women health occur.