An Investigation of the Effect of Education Interventions Given to Women in Turkey with Religious Orientation on Cervical Cancer and Pap Smear Test Health Beliefs.

This study aims to examine the effect of education interventions given to women with religious orientation on cervical cancer and Pap smear test health beliefs.The study used a quasi-experimental research design with the pre-test-post-test control group. It was conducted in Qur'an courses in a province in eastern Turkey between January and October 2023. The sample size was calculated using the Gpower computer program. The sample of the study constituted a total of 114 women, 38 women in each group. Data were collected through the Personal Information Form, the Religious Orientation Scale, and the Cervical Cancer and Pap Smear Test Health Belief Model Scale. The average age of the participating women was 43.41 ± 8.63 years, and 95.6% of them thought that early diagnosis was important in cancer. The groups demonstrated differences in terms of the perceived severity, Pap smear perceived benefit, and Pap smear perceived barrier pre-test mean scores. Pap smear perceived barrier mean score was found to decrease statistically significantly after the education given in the health education group (p < 0.05). This study found that while health education decreased perceived barriers to pap smear tests, religious-based education was found to have no effects.