The Relationship Between Health Literacy and TheTheory of Planned Behavior on Breast Cancer ScreeningPrograms Among Rural Women in Roshtkhar, Iran 2015

Breast cancer is considered as a cause of death in women. patients with breast cancer in ourcountry are about 10 years younger than similar patients in western countries. This study wasconducted to determine the relationship between Theory of Planned Behavior and HealthLiteracy by Breast Cancer Screening programs in Rural women in Roshtkhar. This crosssectionalstudy was conducted on 250 women above age 35 years who were selected bystratified sampling method from population covered by Rural health centers of Roshtkhar.Each of 1 to 7 health centers of Roshtkhar was considered as a class. Cases were selectedand studied from each class, proportional to the number of covered women of that healthcenter. Data were collected by self-report questionnaire (functional health literacy and breastcancer) and analyzed using SPSS software version 16 and statistical, Kruskal Wallis Test,Spearman correlation coefficient, and General linear Model. P value less than 0.05 wasconsidered significance. The mean age of participants was 39.6±4.84 years. The KruskalWallis Test was shown a significant relationship between Breast Screening programs andHealth Literacy( =16.13, p<0.001). Women with adequate health literacy levels were morelikely to report to have ever had a Breast Screening programs, compared to women withinadequate or marginally adequate functional health literacy levels. Inadequate/ marginalfunctional health literacy is strongly associated with lower Breast Screening programs.General linear Model had predicted 40% of variance in the performance of breast cancerscreening programs by Theory of Planned Behavior. Large improvements in breast cancercontrol in this population may come from either basic advances in health literacy or tailoredapproaches by Theory of Planned Behavior to help women with low literacy navigate localhealth care systems.

Keywords:

Breast Cancer , Health Literacy , Screening , Theory of Planned Behavior , Roshtkhar