THE EFFECTS OF EMOTION ON BREAST SELF-EXAMINATION - ANOTHER LOOK AT THE HEALTH BELIEF MODEL

Research examining the performance of breast self-examination (BSE) ha s been guided primarily by belief models (e.g., Health Belief Model (H EM)) that focus on cognition. In this paper it was hypothesized that e motional responses, in addition to beliefs, would have an important im pact on BSE frequency. To test this hypothesis the participants' emoti onal states were measured after they had been required to think about BSE. Also, the participants' beliefs about the benefits of BSE, barrie rs to performing BSE, susceptibility to breast cancer, and severity of breast cancer were measured. The results indicated that the participa nts' emotional responses to BSE increased the ability of models contai ning the HEM variables to predict different types of self-reports abou t BSE frequency.