THE EFFECT OF PEER-BASED SUPPORT ON HEALTH-PROMOTING BEHAVIORS IN BREAST CANCER SURVIVORS IN ACADEMI HOSPITALS AND RESEARCH CENTERS IN URMIA IN 2015-16

The health promoting behaviors is an important topic in the study of chronic diseases, especially cancer. Therefore, this study, aimed to determine the effect of peer support on health-promoting behaviors of breast cancer patients, was conducted in 2015-16.
In this clinical trial, 140 patients with breast cancer were selected with convenice sampling and then randomly allocated into two control and intervention groups. Six discussion sessions were held for the intervention group by two survivors of breast cancer with the highest score in HPLP-II questionnaire. Data were collected before and after the intervention, using demographic data questionnaire, Beck Depression Inventory and health-promoting lifestyle questionnaire of Walker.
Collected data in the intervention and control groups, before the intervention, showed no significant difference in overall average score of health promoting behaviors of the patients (P=0.99). However, after the intervention, the difference between the mean score of health promoting behaviors in two the groups was significant (P Peer-led support increased health promoting behaviors score in breast cancer patients. It is proposed that peer support should be used in patients with breast cancer to improve the health promoting behaviors.