Educational Interventions for Women based on the Behavioral model/theory concerning Cervical Cancer: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Introduction: Cervical cancer is the second most prevalent cancer worldwide among women and is also the second primary cause of cancer-induced mortalities among women at a global scale. The most effective educational programs are based on theoretical approaches derived from behavior change models. The present systematic review aimed to explore and identify the body of research with educational interventions based on a particular behavioral or cognitive model of cervical cancer. Methods: A number of keywords were search in the following databases: PubMed, Web of Science, Science Direct, Google Scholar, Embase, Scopus, Biomedcentral, IranMedex, SID and Magiran. These keywords were: Cervix cancer, uterine cervical neoplasms, screening, prevention and control, Papaniocolaou Test, Pap test, Pap smear, education, intervention, cervical cancer, theory and model, behavior model. The search time span was restricted to 2005 to 2020. Results: From among all the published academic papers with educational interventions, finally 22 papers were selected based on a particular theory or model. Among these papers, those based on the health belief model outnumbered the rest concerning cervical cancer. The Transtheoretical Model (TTM) model was the second most prevalent model adopted in the theory-based educational interventions. Conclusions: Educational interventions based on the behavioral theory or model showed to be effective on the target group concerning screening (secondary behavior) for cervical cancer. To further increase the effectiveness of the educational interventions, there is a need for a combination of new methods and theory-laden education to enhance the primary preventive behaviors of cervical cancer.