Effect of consultation on adherence to clinical breast examination and mammography in Iranian Women: A randomized control trial

Abstract

Background: Early diagnosis of breast cancer is directly related to success in treatment. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of consultation based on the health belief model on performance of clinical breast examination (CBE) and mammography in women. Methods: This research was a clinical trial study. Eligible women aged > 40 years attending to Hamadan health care centers in 2016 were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (n = 75 in each group). The experimental group received 4 weekly sessions of breast cancer screening consulting based on Health Belief Model (HBM). Knowledge on breast cancer, HBM constructs, and practices were compared between two groups before, one and three months after intervention. Results: Before the intervention, no significant differences were observed in knowledge, HBM constructs and practice between experimental and control groups. While one and three months post intervention significant differences were detected between two groups on HBM constructs (except susceptibility and severity) and knowledge (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The results showed the consultation promoted breast cancer screening in women.