Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study is to inform male participants aged fifty and older who have not been diagnosed with prostate cancer about prostate cancer screenings and to examine their participation behavior in these screenings.

Material and methods: In this study, in which an experimental design with a pretest-posttest control group was used, data were collected from 3 family health centers in the city center of Kars between April and July 2013. The sample group consisted of 113 male participants aged fifty years or over. A personal information and a knowledge test forms about prostate cancer screening were used to collect the data. The statistical power of the study was determined to be 0.99.

Results: The mean pretest knowledge scores of the participants were determined be similar. In the posttest, the mean knowledge score of the experimental group was significantly increased compared to that of the control group. In terms of screening participation frequency, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups during the period after the training. The knowledge level was higher in patients who had previously undergone a prostate examination and/or their prostate specific antigen (PSA) level measured or those with a family history of prostate cancer or in cases with a history of a benign prostatic disease.

Conclusion: This study revealed that the knowledge level of the risk group can be increased by training. The study also found that the increase in the knowledge level did not affect the participation behavior of the individuals in the screening tests.