Abstract
【Objective】To validate whether the Health Action Process Approach(HAPA)fits the behavior of women in their 20s and 30s with respect to undergoing cervical cancer screening.
【Methods】A questionnaire survey was conducted twice. In total, 278women aged under 40 years with valid and complete responses were analyzed. The first survey included basic
attributes, outcome expectancies(OE), risk perceptions(RP), action self-efficacy(ASE), and intention to undergo screening as psychological variables that we developed for the behavior of undergoing cervical cancer screening. The second survey included maintenance self-efficacy(MSE), recovery self-efficacy(RSE), action planning(AP), coping planning
(CP), social support(SS), and behavior of undergoing screening. After verifying the construct validity of each psychological scale, OE, RP, and ASE were associated with the intention to undergo screening based on the HAPA, and ASE, MSE, and RSE were found to affect the behavior of undergoing screening from such an intention through AP and CP. Based on this process model, a covariance structure analysis was conducted with SS and attributes as control variables.
【Results】The process model of the behavior of undergoing cervical cancer screening, hypothesized based on the HAPA, had a root mean square error of approximation of 0.049 and a comparative fit index of 0.942, and fit the data well.
【Discussion】The behavior of undergoing cervical cancer screening based on the HAPA was supported by the goodness of fit index. These results suggest that the HAPA is a useful model for predicting the behavior of women’s undergoing cervical cancer
