Factors Predisposing Women to Take Precautions Against Breast and Cervix Cancer

The utility of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), the Health Belief Model (HBM), and the Subjective Probability Model (SPM) in a health education diagnosis to discover predisposing factors for performing breast self-examination (BSE) and having a Pap test was explored in a survey of 123 women. Each model was a significant predictor of BSE and Pap test intentions. However, a composite model comprising the TRA's attitudinal and normative components supplemented by the barriers component of the HBM was the most useful in performing a health education diagnosis in relation to breast self-examination and the Pap test. "Psychological relevance" scores of particular beliefs obtained by SPM procedures tended to confirm the TRA's correlational method of identifying primary beliefs that would be the targets of persuasion to change BSE and Pap test intentions.