Introduction: Cervical cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers in females. Pap smear test is an effective screening program; however, it is not conducted very frequently. The purpose of this article was to present findings on the effect of health belief model education on women's participation in Pap smear examination. Methods: The study included a convenience sample of asymptomatic females aged 20 years and older, who were living in Sarvabad. Overall, 180 subjects were selected and randomly divided to experimental (n = 90) and control (n = 90) groups. Data were collected using a demographic questionnaire and items of the Health Belief Model were self-reported. Data analysis included descriptive statistics for demographic variables, and Manwitny test and Chi-square determined the associations of other variables. Results: Our findings showed that the mean scores of the intervention group and the control group based on the Mann-Whitney test in perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits, perceived barriers and perceived self-efficacy had a significant relationship. However, the severity had no significant relationship.Furthermore, 64.5% of people in the intervention group had pap test. Rate of doing a Pap test in the intervention group was 2.5 times that of the control. Conclusions: Findings showed that targeted training and education models influence participation of women in the Pap smear test.

Background and objective: Cervical cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers among women. Although Pap smear test is an effective screening program, it is not conducted very frequently. This study aimed to recognize the determinants affecting women's participation in Pap smear test screening, with a qualitative approach, based on the health belief model (HBM). Materials and methods:This was a qualitative research, based on thematic analysis, conducted in 2015. Participants were 30 rural women who participated in this study voluntarily in Sarvabad County in Kurdestan Province in Iran. Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants and sampling continued until data saturation. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Based on participants' perception, more of the women believed that they were not at risk for cervical cancer; however, they perceived the severity of the disease. Some of them did not have an adequate understanding of the test benefits. They pointed to financial difficulties, fear of test result and lack of awareness are the main barriers in taking Pap smear test. Conclusion: Several factors affect women's participation in screening and Pap smear test. These factors include the components of social, economic, cultural, attitudes, individual beliefs, lack of awareness, fear, etc. Findings of this study could help health administers and planners in designing and implementing interventional programs such as theory-based educational programs, face-toface educational classes, expert advice and speech of clergy people and influential community people to increase women's participation in Pap smear test screening program.