Abstract:
The objective of this study was to identify the effect
of planned follow-up visits on married women’s health beliefs
and behaviors concerning breast and cervical cancer screenings. The study was conducted using the single-group pre-test/
post-test and quasi-experimental study designs. The sample of
the study included 153 women. Data were collected using a
Personal Information Form, the Health Belief Model (HBM)
Scale for Breast Cancer Screening, the HBM Scale for
Cervical Cancer Screening, and a Pap smear test. Data were
collected using the aforementioned tools from September
2012 to March 2013. Four follow-up visits were conducted,
nurses were educated, and telephone reminders were utilized.
Friedman’s test, McNemar’s test, and descriptive statistics
were used for data analyzing. The frequency of performing
breast self-examination (BSE) at the last visit increased to
84.3 % compared to the pre-training. A statistically significant
difference was observed between the pre- and post-training
median values in four subscales except for the subscale of
perceived seriousness of cervical cancer under Bthe Health
Belief Model Scale for Cervical Cancer and the Pap Smear
Test^ (p < 0.001). The rate of performing BSE significantly
increased after the training and follow-up visits. Also, the rate
of having a Pap smear significantly increased after the followup visits