Educational material for social marketing and behaviours linked to early detection of breast cancer.

BACKGROUND:Social marketing is an effective tool to ensure a populationbased behaviour change for a healthy lifestyle. AIM:The aim was to investigate the effects of breast cancer-related printed educational materials on women's behaviours related to early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer within the framework of social marketing. METHOD:This pre-post test one-group study was conducted with 80 women in a family health centre. An interview form, printed educational materials and follow-up form were used to collect the study data. The data were collected at the baseline and through phone calls at the third month. RESULTS:Of the women, 36% had never performed breast self-examination (BSE), 55% had never had clinical breast examination (CBE), and 41% had never had mammography. There were no differences between the measurements made at the baseline and at the third month in terms of performing BSE, and having CBE and mammography. CONCLUSION:The importance of expanding social marketing approaches in terms of global health investments is emphasised. Adoption of positive health behaviours will lead to improvements in health status, as assessed through measures of morbidity and mortality status in cancer.