Measuring Health Belief Model components in adopting preventive behaviors of cervical cancer in Jahrom 2010

Introduction:Cervical cancer is the second prevalent women cancer in the world . This cancer is found preventable because of having the prolong time before the appearance, its complications and the available proper screening program and possibility of the primary lesion treatment .This cancer could rarely be diagnose without appearing its malignant symptoms. Since the Health Belief Model (HBM) is one of the applicable praxeology model in health education to prevent and control of diseases and to determine the reasons of acceptation of health issues, therefor this investigation is aimed to determine Health Belief Model components in adopting preventive behaviors in cervical cancer in women aged 20-65 In Jahrom /Fars province/ of Iran was conducted. Materials and Method:This descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study was carried out on 213 married 20-65 year-old women chosen by a cluster sampling point method. The data was gathered by a valid and reliable questionnaire including demographic variables and Health Belief Model components and interview method. The data were analyzed by using descriptive and analytical statistics (Chi square test, in-depended T-Test , Pearson correlation coefficient and Regression)by SPSS-16. Probability values less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results: The results showed that mean age of the study group was 40.42± 12.22 and only 5.9% of them had a good knowledge about the cervical cancer and preventive behaviors of it. 31.6% of the studied women had at least one time examined for Pap smear test and only 7.9% of them with the test performed this test on a regular intervals. Test regression analysis showed that all components of the HBM have an effective role in behavior and self-efficacy had the most impact (P=0.001). In addition, there was a significant difference between the mean HBM components (perceived barriers, perceived benefits, behavior and knowledge ) in women who have a history of papsmear test with them who had not. (P=0.027, P=0.035, P=0.003, P=0.01). Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that there is little knowledge about cervical cancer among women in Jahrom that needs to be increased. Long-term educational programs is recommended based on the HBM with particular notice on preventive behaviors of cervical cancer.