Utilizing the Health Belief Model in menopausal women to predict hormone replacement therapy compliance

The purpose of this study was to identify women's health beliefs, in the context of the Health Belief Model (HBM), that impact their decisions about hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Understanding women's beliefs about HRT is useful for health care providers as they guide a growing menopausal population in preventive health care activities. Studies of women's HRT compliance have not assessed their compliance within a theoretical framework such as the HBM that focuses on the readiness to undertake a specific recommended health behavior. The HBM's components include perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy.; This study's research question asked if there was a difference between health beliefs of menopausal women compliant and non-compliant with HRT. The hypothesis was that there was a linear correlation between women's perception of HRT and their compliance as defined by the HBM. To test this hypothesis, a HBM instrument was designed and given to a convenience sample that assessed the women's perceived susceptibility to and severity of illnesses prevented by HRT, perceived benefits and barriers to utilizing HRT, self-efficacy, and cues to action. The study's hypothesis was tested with logistic regression comparing 50 HRT compliant women with 22 HRT non-compliant women. The strongest relationships as measured by Wald chi-square and the odds ratio was perceived susceptibility and perceived barriers to HRT. Women who perceived that they were susceptible to illnesses prevented by HRT and had perceived minimal barriers to use of HRT were more likely to be compliant with HRT. Perceived severity, cues to action, self-efficacy, and benefits to HRT did not contribute significantly to the logistic regression model as assessed by the Wald chi-square and odds ratio. Yet the contribution of all the HBM variables resulted in a significant global score as measured by the −2 Log L and Score statistic that suggests that the total HBM is useful in understanding HRT compliance.