Investigating the predictors of breast cancer screening behaviors (breast self-examination, clinical examination or examination by physician/midwife and mammography) based on protection motivation theory (PMT) in women

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is one of the most common health problems worldwide. The mortality rate of this disease is due to the lack of knowledge about screening methods and late diagnosis of cancer. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to determine the predictors of breast cancer screening behaviors using protection motivation theory. METHODS AND MATERIALS: The conduction of study was cross-sectional and on 400 women aged 30-59 in Kashan. The data collection instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire based on protection motivation theory. Sampling was performed from all community health service centers in Kashan and the proportional to size sampling method was used as available sampling. The statistical tests were Pearson correlation and linear regression. The software used was version 22 SPSS and the significance level was 0.05. RESULTS: The results showed that the average age of women was 39.7 ± 7.9 years. There is a direct and statistically significant relationship between perceived breast cancer screening behaviors and perceived self-efficacy (P < 0.05) and there is an inverse statistically significant relationship between breast cancer screening behaviors and perceived cost (P < 0.05). There is also a direct and significant statistical relationship between motivation of protection and perceived sensitivity, intensity, self-efficacy, cost, and perceived response efficiency (P < 0.05). Perceived self-efficacy, cost, and response efficiency are the predictors of breast cancer screening behaviors. The perceived cost is the negative predictor. CONCLUSION: Overall, health care providers can view PMT as a framework for developing educational interventions aimed at improving behaviors related to breast cancer screening of women.