Abstract
BACKGROUND: We aimed to review systematically the role of Health Belief Model (HBM) in predicting the health behaviors of patients at risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) and to evaluate the effectiveness of HBM-based educational program on the knowledge and intention of individuals for preventive actions. METHODS: A systematic literature search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Ovid, Science Direct, Embase, and Google Scholar from 1980 up to June 2023 using CRC and HBM as the search words with all their similar terms. All available data were then extracted and described qualitatively. RESULTS: Overall, 37 articles with 24286 study populations were collected for data extraction. Findings showed that perceived benefit was the most important component of HBM and community-based education can play an important role in improving the awareness and intention of individuals for preventive actions such as screening behaviors. In addition, culture is an important factor in health belief of individuals, so culture-based modified HBM may help to enhance the efficiency of HBM in predicting the knowledge and intention rate among the population. CONCLUSION: Preventive actions can minimize the risk of developing cancer, and consequent quality of life. HBM provides a valuable framework for understanding health behaviors by considering the perceptions of individuals about the disease.