ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to identify the health beliefs and breast cancer (BC) screening behavior of a group of female health professionals (FHPs) [physicians, nurses and midwives] in Turkey.

This descriptive study was conducted at primary and secondary level healthcare institutions in Central Anatolia, Turkey. The study group included 720 FHPs. Data was collected by a questionnaire and the Turkish version of Champion’s Health Belief Model Scales (CHBMS).

The mean age of the FHPs was 30.2 years (±6.12 range; 20-50), 8.9 % of them were ≥40 years. The majority (93.9%) of FHPs did not have annual mammography (MMG) or clinical breast examination (CBE) (95.1%); and 42.9% reported to perform breast self-examinations (BSE). None of the physicians reported having a CBE or MMG. The physicians’ perception of susceptibility, severity and barriers to screening was lower than the nurses and midwives; however, their perception of benefits, self-efficacy and health motivation was higher. The perception of benefit among nurses, and self-efficacy and perception of health motivation among midwives were lower than those of the physicians. The perception of barriers to screening was highest among nurses.

The compliance rate with early detection practices for BC screening was low among FHPs. Health beliefs influenced their behavior on BC screening.