Effect of gynecological and breast cancer education using a creative drama method on midwifery students’ awareness - randomized controlled trial

Q: What problem does the study address for midwifery students?

It addresses the need for adequate awareness of gynecological and breast cancers so students can support prevention, early detection, and health education.

Q: How was the creative drama education implemented and compared?

Second-year midwifery students received either creative drama–based education across five weekly sessions or lecture-based education; awareness was measured at baseline and 5 weeks later.

Q: What were the main outcomes after the intervention?

Posttest awareness scores were higher in the creative drama group for overall Gynecological Cancers Awareness Scale and Breast Cancer Awareness Scale, with significant improvements within the intervention group and no significant changes in the control group.

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Margaret

Midwifery students require strong awareness of gynecological and breast cancers to enable effective prevention, timely early detection, and accurate health education. This study evaluates a creative drama–based cancer education program versus lecture-based education using a randomized controlled trial with a pretest–posttest control-group design. Education comprised five weekly sessions. Awareness was assessed with the Gynecological Cancers Awareness Scale and the Breast Cancer Awareness Scale at baseline and 5 weeks later.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Background and Objective

Design and Methods

Results and Conclusion

Introduction

Role of creative drama in health education

Cancer burden and prevention importance

Sayar and Barbak BMC Nursing (2026) 25:261 [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-026-04407-3](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-026-04407-3) BMC Nursing RESEARCH Open Access Effect of gynecological and breast cancer education using a creative drama method on midwifery students’ awareness: a randomized controlled trial Sultan Esra Sayar1* and Zülbiye Demir Barbak1* Abstract Background Midwifery students need adequate awareness of gynecological and breast cancers to support prevention, early detection, and health education. Objective To examine the effect of a creative drama–based cancer education program on midwifery students’awareness of gynecological and breast cancers. Design Randomized controlled trial with a pretest–posttest control-group design conducted in one university midwifery school inTürkiye. Methods Second-year midwifery students were randomized to creative drama–based education (five weekly sessions, 120 min/session) or lecture-based education. Outcomes were measured using the Gynecological Cancers Awareness Scale (GCAS) and the Breast Cancer Awareness Scale (BCAS) at baseline and 5 weeks later. Results Fifty-three students were randomized (intervention n = 27; control n = 26) and all were analyzed. Posttest scores were higher in the intervention group for GCAS total (187 .15 ± 19.09 vs. 172.00 ± 21 . 84; p = 0 . 015; Cohen’sd = 0 . 74) and BCAS total (79 .81 ± 11.36 vs. 57.20 ± 6 . 25; p = 0 . 010; d = 2 .45) . Within the intervention group, both GCASand BCAS subscale scores increased significantly from pretest to posttest (p < 0. 05), whereas no significant changes were observed in the control group. Conclusion Creative drama–based education produced statistically significant and practically meaningful improvements in midwifery students’ awareness of gynecological and breast cancers compared with lecture-based education. Trial registration [ClinicalTrials.gov](ClinicalTrials.gov) NCT07073599; retrospectively registered on 2025-07-10. Keywords Breast cancer, Gynecological cancers, Creative drama, Midwifery education, Randomized controlled trial *Correspondence: Sultan Esra Sayar[esrated@hotmail.com](esrated@hotmail.com)[ ](esrated@hotmail.com)Zülbiye Demir Barbak [zulbiye.demir@atauni.edu.tr](zulbiye.demir@atauni.edu.tr) 1Department of Midwifery, Faculty of Health Science, Ataturk Universty, Erzurum, Türkiye © The Author(s) 2026. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit [http://creati](http://creati)[vecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/](vecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)[.](vecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.) Sayar and Barbak BMC Nursing (2026) 25:261 Introduction The use of creative drama in health education is becoming increasingly popular. In today’s world of constantly evolving knowledge, midwifery education must be designed to keep pace with the times. Throughout midwifery education, many educational methods are used to teach professional knowledge. Drama is one of these methods. Drama allows individuals to assume various roles, understand and observe how

FAQs

What problem does the study address for midwifery students?

It addresses the need for adequate awareness of gynecological and breast cancers so students can support prevention, early detection, and health education.

How was the creative drama education implemented and compared?

Second-year midwifery students received either creative drama–based education across five weekly sessions or lecture-based education; awareness was measured at baseline and 5 weeks later.

What were the main outcomes after the intervention?

Posttest awareness scores were higher in the creative drama group for overall Gynecological Cancers Awareness Scale and Breast Cancer Awareness Scale, with significant improvements within the intervention group and no significant changes in the control group.

Sep 23, 2026

Uploaded by Margaret