Abstract:
The objective of this survey research was to assess factors related to cervical cancer behavior of Thai Muslim women in Krabi province. 435 married Thai Muslim women aged between 35 and 60 years were selected for interview. Structured interview questionnaires regarding knowledge, perception, and behavioral practices about cervical cancer, and its screening, were used to collect data. The data was analyzed by frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Multiple Classification Analysis. Results of the study revealed that predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing factors as a whole were significantly related to the screening behavior of the sample group (p<0.05). About 32 percent of variance of the cervical cancer screening behavior of the sample Thai Muslim women could be explained by these three factors (R2=0.322). When each variable was further analyzed, it was found that knowledge about cervical cancer was the best predictor of cervical cancer screening behavior (Beta=0.38) followed by age, experience of cervical cancer, perceived self-efficacy to seek early cervical cancer screening, social support from family members, and privacy of the screening room at the health care center (Beta=0.16, 0.15, 0.15, 0.12, and 0.10 respectively).