Turkish Female Academician Self-Esteem and Health Beliefs for Breast Cancer Screening Health beliefs;breast cancer screening;self-esteem;female academicians;Turkey; Purpose: This study aimed to analyse female academician health beliefs for breast cancer screening and levels of self-esteem. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between October 2010 and March 2011, covering female academicians working in all faculties and vocational schools at Ondokuz Mayis University, except for the ones in the field of health (n=141). Data was collected using a questionnaire developed by researchers in the light of the related literature, the Champion's Health Belief Model Scale for Breast Cancer, and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory. Descriptive statistics, the t-test, Mann-Whitney U and correlation analysis were used to analyze the data with the SPSS 13.0 statistical package. Results: 53.8% of the participants were single, 58.6% did not have children, 80.7% had regular menstrual cycles, 28.3% was taking birth control pills, 17.9% were undergoing hormone therapy, 11% suffered breast problems, 8.3% had relatives with breast cancer, 78,6% knew about breast self-examination (BSE), 68.3% was performing BSE, 16.2% were performing BSE monthly, 17.9% had had mammograms, and 30.3% had undergone breast examinations conductedby physicians. The women who had breast physical examinations done by physicians had higher susceptibility, self-efficacy and health motivation, and fewer barriers to mammography than those who did not have breast physical examinations. Conclusions: There was a relationship between the female academician self-esteem and their perceived seriousness of breast cancer, perceived barriers to BSE and health motivation. Our Turksih female academicians had medium levels of self-esteem.

This study aimed to create a measurement tool for the determination of university students’ health beliefs about testicular cancer (TC) and self-examination. This is a methodological and cross-sectional study. The study sample included 425 university students. Consents and approvals were obtained from the relevant institutions and the ethics committee prior to the research. The data were collected using an interview form that included questions about descriptive characteristics, family history of TC, and knowledge, beliefs, and practice of self-examination. The health belief model including 41 questions about self-examination and the interview form were administered to the students in their classrooms at a suitable time. Principal components analysis and varimax rotation were used for the examination of the structures of the factors. Accordingly, factor patterns, self-values, and the variance percentages they explained were evaluated. The average age of the participants is 22.2 ± 2.3 (min = 17; max = 40). Of them, 98.8% of the participants are single ( n = 420). Of them, 56.2% have heard about TC before, and 18.4% said they were informed about TC. Factor loading of the items in the first factor was 0.64 to 0.89, while it was 0.48 to 0.75 for the items in the second factor, 0.50 to 0.87 for the items in the third factor, 0.37 to 0.68 for the items in the fourth factor, 0.51 to 0.68 for the items in the fifth factor, and 0.65 to 0.79 for the items in the sixth factor. The health belief model scale may be used in TC screenings for males to measure susceptibility, seriousness, health motivation, barriers, benefits, and self-efficacy.