Health Beliefs in Screening for Breast Cancer among Women Referring to Bonab Health Centers in 2014

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among females. Early detection by screening programs is a useful approach to controlling the disease. The purpose of this study was to assess the health beliefs in breast self-examination, mammography and clinical breast examination among females referring to Bonab health centers. It was a cross- sectional study. The participants were recruited from 5 health centers of Bonan by Convenience sampling (n=250). Data was collected by Champion’s Health Belief Model Scale and analyzed using SPSS-PC (v.13). The results showed that 76.8% of the participants believed in the benefits of mammography and 66.4% of them the clinical examination. About 65.2% of participants had poor health beliefs about efficacy of Breast Self-Examination. 94% of participants believed that mammography reduce the risk of death due to breast cancer. Despite good health beliefs in some fields, rates of breast cancer screening are low, therefore it is recommended to know the factors that play a role in increasing the acceptance of breast cancer screening methods and used them to encourage women to have screening.