The effect of educational intervention based on empowerment on breast cancer screening in 35 to 55 years old women in Gonabad

Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers and it is still the leading cause of death from cancer among women. This study was conducted to determine the effect of educational intervention based on empowerment on breast cancer screening in 35 to 55 years old women in Gonabad city in 2014.

The present study was a quasi-experimental study conducted in 2014 in Gonabad city. The participants were 60 women aged 35-55 years that randomly assigned to two groups of experimental (n = 30) and control (n = 30). The interventional education based on empowerment was conducted for the experimental group. Data were collected by a valid and reliable questionnaire, before and 2 months after the intervention. Using SPPS version 20, the collected data were analyzed by T- test, chi square, and McNemar's test.

Before intervention, there were no significant differences between intervention and control group in empowerment components and breast cancer screening procedures. After the intervention, there were significant differences between the two group in empowerment components including awareness (P-Value=0.044), attitude (P-Value=0.001), self-steam (P-Value=0.048), and self-efficacy (P-Value=0.002) and breast cancer screening methods including clinical breast examination (P-Value=0/018), breast self-examination (P-Value=0/015), and mammography (P-Value=0/027).

According to our results, implementing educational interventions based on empowerment in women would be effective on performing breast cancer screening.