The relationship between testicular cancer and beliefs about testicular self-examination and health literacy

Testicular cancer is one of the most common urogenital cancers in men. Early detection of this type of cancer through screening and self-examination increases the chances of survival and reduces healthcare expenses. Nurses, physicians and patients have critical responsibilities in preventing testicular cancer. The results of this research will make a significant contribution to the development of preventive services by determining the health beliefs and general knowledge level of patients about testicular cancer and testicular self-examination (TSE). Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the relationship between health beliefs and health literacy regarding testicular cancer and TSE of men who applied to the urology clinic. This descriptive study was conducted with male patients who applied to the urology outpatient clinic of a public hospital between March and June 2023. 337 volunteers participated in the study. Ethics committee and institutional permissions were obtained before starting the study. Data were collected using the socio-demographic information form, ‘Champion Health Belief Model Scale’ and ‘Health Literacy Scale’ prepared by the researchers. In evaluating the data, frequency, percentage, average, Student's t-test, one-way ANOVA (post hoc Lsd) was used. Significance was evaluated at p < 0.05 level. It was determined that 94.7% of the participants did not know a method to detect testicular cancer by themselves, 84.0% of them had not heard of TSE, and 78% of them did not perform TSE because they did not know TSE. According to the findings of the study, Champion Health Belief Model Scale subscale mean scores were 12.91 ± 4.89 for sensitivity perception, 20.51 ± 6.75 for caring/seriousness perception, 9.20 ± 3.03 for benefit perception, 13.61 ± 4.77 for obstacle perception, and 17.34 ± 5.51 for self-efficacy perception. Health literacy scale sub-dimension mean scores were 17.13 ± 6.00 for access to information, 20.81 ± 7.04 for understanding information, 28.04 ± 8.59 for appraisal/evaluation, 17.55 ± 5.80 for application/usage, and 87.16 ± 26.39 for total mean scores. In the study, it was determined that susceptibility and benefits of TSE perception increased, and barrier perception decreased as health literacy increased. Accordingly, since it is observed that increasing health literacy will increase the frequency of performing TSE, it should be supported by health literacy-enhancing training sessions.