ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: In women, breast cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer death. Screening tests are the basis for early diagnosis. In Iranian women, the mortality rate of breast cancer is high due to insufficient screening examinations and delayed visits for care. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the factors affecting breast self-examinations among Iranian women employed in medical careers. METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 501 women working in the medical professions at Hamadan University of Medical Sciences in western Iran in 2018. The subjects were selected by stratified random sampling. Data were collected using a researcher-developed, self-report questionnaire that contained demographic information and questions based on protection motivation theory and social support theory. Descriptive data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 23 and model fitting with PLS version 2. RESULTS: The mean age of the participants was 37.1±8.3 years, and most of the women (80.4%) were married. Most women had a bachelor's degree (67.5%). The findings of this study showed that the coping appraisal construct was a predictor of protection motivation (β=0.380, p<0.05), and protection motivation (β=0.604, p<0.05) was a predictor of breast self-examination behavior. Additionally, social support theory (β=0.202, p<0.05) had a significant positive effect on breast self-examination behavior. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of practicing self-examinations among women employees in the medical sector was low; considering the influence of social support as a factor promoting screening, it is necessary to pay attention to influential people in women's lives when designing educational interventions.
Subject(s)
Female , Humans , Breast Neoplasms , Breast Self-Examination , Breast , Cross-Sectional Studies , Delivery of Health Care , Early Diagnosis , Iran , Mass Screening , Mortality , Motivation , Self-Examination , Statistics as TopicABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES@#In women, breast cancer is the most common cancer and the leading cause of cancer death. Screening tests are the basis for early diagnosis. In Iranian women, the mortality rate of breast cancer is high due to insufficient screening examinations and delayed visits for care. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the factors affecting breast self-examinations among Iranian women employed in medical careers.@*METHODS@#This cross-sectional study included 501 women working in the medical professions at Hamadan University of Medical Sciences in western Iran in 2018. The subjects were selected by stratified random sampling. Data were collected using a researcher-developed, self-report questionnaire that contained demographic information and questions based on protection motivation theory and social support theory. Descriptive data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 23 and model fitting with PLS version 2.@*RESULTS@#The mean age of the participants was 37.1±8.3 years, and most of the women (80.4%) were married. Most women had a bachelor's degree (67.5%). The findings of this study showed that the coping appraisal construct was a predictor of protection motivation (β=0.380, p<0.05), and protection motivation (β=0.604, p<0.05) was a predictor of breast self-examination behavior. Additionally, social support theory (β=0.202, p<0.05) had a significant positive effect on breast self-examination behavior.@*CONCLUSIONS@#The frequency of practicing self-examinations among women employees in the medical sector was low; considering the influence of social support as a factor promoting screening, it is necessary to pay attention to influential people in women's lives when designing educational interventions.
ABSTRACT
Background: Skin cancer is the common, but most preventable forms of cancer, in recent decades. The most important key strategies in the prevention of this disease are health education interventions in society. The aim of this systematic review was to review the studies that have used educational interventions to increase skin cancer preventive behaviors, based on methods, application of models, and theories of health education and health promotion
Materials and methods: Database of Iranian Medical Sciences articles, including Scientific Information Database [SID], and Iran Medex, and also 4 foreign electronic database of articles [Cochrane, Pubmed, Biomed Central and science direct] were studied in a systematic way. The database's search was conducted from February 2016 to May 2016
Results: Of 12 retrieved articles, 10 studies were conducted based on theories and models of health education, and 2 studies did not use theories and models of health education. Among these theories, the social cognitive theory had most application and performance in improving the studied. Impact of interventions includes the whole range of improvements in structures such as variables and skin cancer preventive behaviors
Conclusion: According to the results, the interventions based on theories and models of health education and promotion play an important role in promoting skin cancer preventive behaviors