Breast Self-Examination Among College-Aged Females: An Intervention Study

Although 95% of women report awareness of recommendations to perform monthly breast self-examinations (BSEs), only about 17-36% of women conduct BSEs regularly. This study investigated whether combining Motivational Interviewing (MI) and a Health Belief Model-based (HBM) intervention would promote BSE behaviors. Thirty-three females were randomly assigned to a HBM-based psychoeducational intervention using MI (PE/MI; n = 17) or a no-treatment control group (n = 16). Together, the HBM constructs predicted intentions to engage in BSE. Also, results indicated that the PE/MI participants reported significantly greater self-efficacy, awareness of BSE cues, and intentions, to conduct monthly BSE at posttest than control participants. The groups did not differ on other HBM constructs. Overall, results indicate that MI appears to be a promising strategy for promoting BSE.