ASSESSING HEALTH BELIEFS AND BREAST CANCER EARLY DETECTION BEHAVIORS AMONG FEMALE HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS IN TABRIZ HEALTH CENTERS

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among females. In Iran 10.7% of
cancers are related to breast cancer. Early detection by screening programs is a useful approach in
controlling the disease. The purpose of this study was to assess the health beliefs about breast self
examination, mammography and clinical breast examination among female healthcare providers in
Tabriz health centers.
Materials & Methods: In this descriptive analytic study, 196 female healthcare providers were
selected from Tabriz 52 health centers by cluster random sampling and their health beliefs are assessed
by using Champion’s Health Belief Model questionnaire. Data analyzed by SPSS software.
Results: The mean age of participants was 37.01± 7.54 and 73.5% of them were married and the job
of 45.6% was midwife. 73.2% of participants performed BSE, 26.6% of them performed
mammography and 10.7% of them performed CBE. There was a significant relation between job and
marital status with BSE performing, marital status and age with mammography performing and age
with CBE performing. The BSE performance was higher among nurses and midwifes. BSE and
mammography performance were higher in married health workers. Health workers who performed
mammography and CBE were older.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the rate of BSE, CBE and mammography
performance is low in Tabriz healthcare providers. So providing educational programs with focus on
performance of early detection behaviors is strongly recommended by people in charge.