ABSTRACT
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Breast self-examination [BSE], mammography, and clinical breast examination [CBE] are three effective methods for secondary prevention of this disease. This study was carried out with the purpose of prediction of breast self-examination in a sample of nursing and midwifery students using health belief model. This descriptive cross-sectional study was done on the nursing and midwifery students of Qom University of Medical Sciences and Islamic Azad University from March2013toJune2013. Data were collected by quota sampling. The Persian questionnaire of Champion's health belief model was used for the evaluation of the participants. Data analysis was done using independent t-test and logistic regression at the significance level of 0.05. The mean age of 113 studied students was 22.5 +/- 3.7. Of this number, 54% were Midwifery students and 46% Nursing students. Results showed that 63.2% of the students performed breast self-examination and in 36.8%, it was not done at all. There was a significant difference in constructs of perceived susceptibility, perceived obstacles, and self-efficacy [p<0.05] between cases who perform self-examination and the ones who did not. In the prediction of breast self examination, only construct of perceived susceptibility and self-efficacy played a role in the self-examination. The findings of this study indicated that self-efficacy and perceived susceptibility are the most important predictors of performing breast self-examination practice. There fore, in training programs, we can increase breast self-examination by increasing self-efficacy and sense of danger in training programs