@2024 Afarand., IRAN

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ISSN: 2383-2150    Journal of Education and Community Health 2019;6(1):33-39

Background
Breast cancer is currently one of the main causes of women's death in the world. Having a healthy lifestyle and performing screening tests has an effective role in reducing the mortality due to this disease.
Previous Studies
... [1-8]. Results of studies have shown that breast self-examination, breast examination and mammography are effective strategies for early diagnosis breast cancer and significantly reduce the mortality rate of breast cancer [9, 10]. ... [11]. Inappropriate diet and no physical activity are among the avoidable risk factors for breast cancer, as regular consumption of fruits and vegetables as well as regular physical activity can reduce the risk of breast cancer [12]. Evidence suggests that in women who were physically active, the mortality rate generally and mortality after diagnosis were about 24-67% and 50-53% less than those who had no physical activity [13]. ... [14-17].
Aim(s)
The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of awareness and perceived self-efficacy of women of Neyshabur city on the preventive behaviors of breast cancer.
Research type
This research is a cross-sectional descriptive-correlational study.
Research society, place and time
This study was carried out on 248 women aged 30-69 years old who referred to Neyshabur Health Services Centers in 2018.
Sampling method and number
The subjects were selected using cluster sampling method. First, a list of all comprehensive health services centers in Neyshabur was prepared. Six centers out of 11 comprehensive health services centers were randomly selected. The 30-69 years old women referred to Neyshabur Health Services Centers who had the inclusion criteria, including reading and writing ability, no benign or malignant breast cancer, and the informed consent were studied. Sampling lasted from February 2017 to April 2018.
Used devices&materials
The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire that was completed by self-report method. The questionnaire comprised from two parts: the first part assessed demographic information, including age, marital status, educational level, occupation, insurance, family history of breast diseases and family relations. The second part measured knowledge (7 items), self-efficacy (4 items) and questions about preventive behaviors of breast cancer (6 items). The questionnaire was designed based on research objectives and using articles, scientific literature and studies by other researchers [11, 18, 19]. The questionnaire was then given to the 20 women aged 30-69 years to determine its validity. After completing the questionnaire, its quantitative face validity was calculated using item effect formula. If the item's impact score was more than 1.5, the item would be appropriate for subsequent analyzes and otherwise it was deleted. To determine the reliability, a modified questionnaire was distributed among 20 people from the target group. After collecting and extracting data, the Cronbach's alpha value was calculated and the values above 0.7 were considered acceptable. Data were analyzed by SPSS software 19 using Pearson correlation test and linear regression analysis.
Findings by Text
The mean age of participants in the study was 37.12±7.49 years. The highest level education was primary and secondary school education. Also, most women participated were housewives. In terms of marital status, most women were married, and the majority did not have a family history of breast cancer (Table 1).The mean score of knowledge in women was 4.69±1.88 out of 7 score, the mean of preventive behaviors for breast cancer was 6.57±3.15 out of 24 and the mean score of their self-efficacy was 15.84±2.61 out of 20. 52.8% of women had no breast self-examination and 75.0% had not yet referred to a doctor or midwife for a clinical examination of breast. Only 4.2% of women always had physical activity and 53.2% were eating less than two servings of fruit daily and also more than half of women consumed less than 3 servings of vegetable daily. Also, 41.1% of them used a combination of solid, liquid and semisolid oils (Table 2). There was a positive and significant correlation between the mean scores of knowledge (p=0.001; r=0.179) and perceived self-efficacy (p=0.001; r=0.211) with preventive behaviors from breast cancer. Also, there was a significant positive correlation between age and knowledge (r=0.140, p=0.028), and perceived self-efficacy (r=0.135, p=0.034). Knowledge and self-efficacy predicted 67% of the preventive behaviors of breast cancer (Table 3).
Main comparison to the similar studies
In our study, there was a significant correlation between knowledge of preventive behaviors and age, which is in line with the studies by Dafei et al. [11] and Shiryazdi et al. [20]. ... [21]. Our findings suggest that there is a correlation between knowledge and preventive behavior of breast cancer, which is consistent with the studies by Rastad et al. [22] and Ziayifard et al. [23]. Also, Neinavayi et al. study on 200 women in Karaj indicated that women did not know how to perform breast self-examination, or they were unaware of how breast self-examination was performed [24]. ... [25-30]. In our study, more than half of women consumed less than two serving of fruits and vegetables daily, which was consistent with the studies by Tabesh et al. [31] and Mirkarimi et al. [32]. ... [33-40].
Suggestions
Educational interventions using this construct are suggested to be considered in educational programs.
Limitations
Self-reported data collection and also sampling only from women referring to the comprehensive health centers were as the limitations of this study.
Conclusions
Increasing of women's perceived self-efficacy and awareness can be effective on promoting the prevention behaviors of breast cancer.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the deputy of the Research and Technology of the North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences, and the cooperation of the women participating in the study as well as the staff of the comprehensive health centers that helped the researchers to collect the data.
Conflict of interest
None declared.
Ethical Permissions
This research was carried out after obtaining a formal permission from the Ethics Committee of the School of Public Health of the North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences (Ethics code: IR.NKUMS.REC.1396.60).
Funding Sources
This research was supported by the deputy of the Research and Technology Department of North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences.

TABLES and CHARTS

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