Abstract

Introduction: Women's screening beliefs play an important role in their performance. Since a short form questionnaire is necessary in the assessment of screening beliefs in Iranian society, this study was conducted with the aim of psychometric evaluation of the Breast Cancer Screening Beliefs Questionnaire (BCSBQ) among Iranian women. Methods: In this cross-sectional methodological study, 300 Iranian women who were aged 18 years or older, and who were attending healthcare centers of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, were selected in 2017-18. After a backward-forward translation procedure of BCSBQ was carried out, the face, content and construct validity of breast cancer-screening beliefs questionnaire were evaluated. In addition, the reliability was measured using the Cronbach's alpha and intra class correlation coefficients. Results: The results of the exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used to extract three distinct factors, including: attitude, knowledge, and barriers to screening. The three-factor model fit was accepted for all factors based on standard indices (RMSEA = 0.12, chi(2) = 2.832, GFI = 0.87, AGFI = 0.8, CFI = 0.94, NFI = 0.92). In addition, the instrument's reliability was measured using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The instrument had an appropriate Cronbach alpha (0.78). The interclass correlation coefficient was obtained to be 0.93 within a range of 0.83-0.97. Conclusion: The three-factor structure of the BCSBQ-12 had appropriate validity and reliability among Iranian women. Considering its appropriate psychometric properties, this instrument can be employed in subsequent studies to measure women's breast cancer screening beliefs in Iran.