Effects of Health Belief Model-Based Education on Health Beliefs and Breast Self-Examination in Nursing Students

OBJECTIVE: This study was carried out to investigate the effect of an education program based on the health belief model (HBM) on nursing students’ health beliefs and on their practices of breast self-examination (BSE). METHODS: This research was a semi-experimental intervention study with a single group, pretest and posttest design. The sample of the research consisted of 48 students in the 3(rd) year of study. Data were collected before the education program and 6 months and 1 year after the training. A sociodemographic information form, the breast cancer knowledge form, the HBM scale, and the BSE proficiency rating instrument were used. Descriptive statistics and repeated measures ANOVA were used to examine the relationships among the variables. RESULTS: Implementing the educational program was found to be statistically insignificant for the HBM. Knowledge about breast cancer and BSE skills increased after the training. The percentage of students practicing regular BSE was determined as 14.6% before training, 45.8% after 6 months, and 28.1% after 1 year. CONCLUSIONS: The education provided to the students increased their HBM scores, knowledge about breast cancer, and BSE skills. However, the frequency of regular BSE was still quite low after training.