Factors Predicting Prostate Cancer Screening Behavior in Iranian Men Based on the Protection Motivation Theory

Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer among men and is one of the major causes of pain and cost in the health care system. Prostate cancer screening is a low-cost and easy way to detect cancer early. This study aimed to investigate the factors associated with prostate cancer screening in men over 50 years in Jiroft using the Protection Motivation Theory.

Instruments & Methods:

The present study is a cross-sectional study that was performed on 414 men over 50 years old. The sampling method was multi-stage. Data were collected using a researcher-made questionnaire of 58 questions whose validity and reliability was measured. Data were analyzed by SPSS 18 software using one-way ANOVA, independent t-test, Pearson correlation, and linear regression.

53.9% of the participants were in the age group of 60-69 years. Only 8.2% had an annual prostate cancer screening. Perceived vulnerability, perceived severity, self-efficacy, response efficiency, and fear had a significant positive relationship, and response cost and perceived reward had a significant inverse relationship with prostate cancer screening behavior (p<0.05). Perceived vulnerability, perceived severity, self-efficacy, fear, and protection motivation constructs could explain 37% of the variance of prostate cancer screening behavior (p<0.05).

The constructs of perceived vulnerability, perceived severity, self-efficacy, fear, and protection motivation can explain 37% of prostate cancer screening behavior in Iranian Men, and protection motivation is a stronger predictor.