The Effect of Health Belief Model-Based Educational Intervention on Colorectal Cancer Screening among Men Aged 50-70 years

Background: One of the most prevalent and lethal cancers worldwide is colorectal cancer. Considering its impact on people’s lives, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of educational intervention (EI) based on the health belief model (HBM) on encouraging men aged 50-70 years in Sangan to undergo colorectal cancer screening (CRCS). Methods: In this randomized educational trial, two health centers of Sangan were randomly assigned to the control and intervention groups. Then, 53 people from each health center were selected using simple random sampling method. A questionnaire was used as the data collection tool. Therefore, the intervention group received EI based on HBM in four 60-minute training sessions (TSs) in 3 groups of 15-20 people by different teaching methods. Additionally, the practical steps of doing the fecal immunochemical test (FIT) were taught in these sessions. One month after the EI, data were analyzed using SPSS version 18.0. Results: Before the intervention, there was no significant difference in the constructs of the HBM between the groups (P 0.05), except for the perceived barriers (P=0.009). However, one month after the EI, there were significant differences in the constructs between the groups (P 0.05). Conclusion: It seems that the EI based on HBM has positive impacts on encouraging people to do FIT for CRC prevention.