Empowering Women Through Health Belief Model–Based Education on Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome
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Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of Health Belief Model (HBM)–based education on improving women's knowledge, health beliefs, and practices regarding PCOS.
Methods and Materials: A quasi-experimental pre-post design was employed with a purposive sample of 300 women attending an outpatient obstetrics and gynecology clinic of Kafr El-Sheikh University Hospital, Egypt. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire assessing demographic characteristics and HBM constructs. The intervention consisted of eight educational sessions delivered over six months. Pre- and post-intervention data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential tests to determine statistical significance.
Findings: Pre-intervention findings indicated high levels of negative health beliefs regarding PCOS: perceived susceptibility (75.3%), severity (71.3%), barriers (68.3%), benefits (65.0%), and cues to action (73.3%). Following the intervention, positive health beliefs significantly increased across all domains, with over 80% of participants showing improved scores (p < 0.001). Overall, the proportion of women with positive total HBM scores rose from 32.3% to 83.3%. Significant associations were found between sociodemographic factors and health belief scores both pre- and post-intervention (p < 0.001).
Conclusion: The HBM-based educational program significantly improved women's health beliefs about PCOS, demonstrating its effectiveness as a tool for empowering women and promoting informed self-management across diverse sociodemographic groups.
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