Effect of Nursing Educational Guidelines on Women’s Awareness, Health Practices and Beliefs RegardingPrevention and Early Detection of Breast and Cervical Cancer

Abstract

Background: Women of all races and ethnicities are at risk for breast cancer and cervical cancer. These types of cancer have remained major public health issues across the world. Aim: To evaluate the effect of nursing educational guidelines on women’s awareness, health practices and beliefs regarding the prevention and early detection of breast and cervical cancer. Design: A quasi-experimental design. Setting: The study was conducted at El sedik Islamic Medical Center, El salam Islamic Medical Center and El Noor Islamic Medical Center. Subjects: A purposive sample of 98 women attending family planning and gynecological outpatient clinics, aged 20 to 60 years and more of different levels of education, not having a history of breast or cervical cancer and not under chemotherapy or radiotherapy treatment. The tools of data collection were Breast and cervical cancer questionnaire, the 7 steps of breast self-examination checklist (BSE) and Champion’s Health Belief Model Scale (CHBMS). Results: The mean age of the studied women, was 34.9± 10.2 years. There were general improvements of awareness and beliefs about breast and cervical cancer of the studied women during the different assessment periods as compared to before program with highly statistically significant differences at (p-values < 0.01). After program implementation the practices of breast self examination relatively increased (57.3%) among the studied women meanwhile minimal effect on screening rates of clinical breast examination and Pap smear test (11.2% & 5.0% respectively) and screening mammogram remained the same as the pre program. There was highly statistically significant positive correlation (p< 0.01) between total mean knowledge and beliefs scores as well as total mean knowledge and breast self examination practices scores at different times of assessment. Conclusion and Recommendations: The implementation of nursing educational guidelines led to significant improvements in women’s awareness, health care practices and beliefs toward breast and cervical cancer prevention and early detection. The following recommendations are proposed: provide women with simple information (through illustrated brochures & booklets) that can assist in decreasing barriers and clarifying any misconceptions about breast and cervical cancer screening and to involve women in the design of breast and cervical cancer program to ensure its validity in satisfying their needs and to promote breast and cervical cancer screening.