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.