Beliefs and behaviour of Malaysia undergraduate female students in a public university toward breast self-examination practice

• Main Authors: Akhtari-Zavare, Mehrnoosh, Juni, Muhamad Hanafiah, Md Said, Salmiah, Ismail, Irmi Zarina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Asian Pacific Organization for Cancer Prevention 2013
• Online Access: http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/29678/1/Beliefs%20and%20behaviour%20of%20Malaysia%20undergraduate%20female%20students%20in%20a%20public%20university%20toward%20breast%20self.pdf; http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/29678/; http://www.apocpcontrol.org/page/apjcp_issues_view.php?sid=Entrez:PubMed&id=pmid:23534796&key=2013.14.1.57
• Institution: Universiti Putra Malaysia

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second principal cause of cancer deaths among women worldwide, including Malaysia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 262 female undergraduate students in University Putra Malaysia using a validated questionnaire which was developed for this study. RESULTS: The mean age of respondents was 22∓2.3 years. Most of them were single (83.1%), Malay (42.3%) and 20.7% reported having a family history of breast cancer. Eighty-seven (36.7%) claimed they had practiced BSE. Motivation and self-efficacy of the respondents who performed BSE were significantly higher compared with women who did not (p<0.05).There was no association between BSE practice and demographic details (p<0.05). Logistic regression analysis indicated that women who perceived greater motivation (OR=1.089, 95%CI: 1.016-1.168) and had higher confidence of BSE (OR=1.076, 95%CI: 1.028-1.126) were more likely to perform the screening. CONCLUSIONS: The findings show that Malaysian young female's perception regarding breast cancer and the practice of BSE is low. Targeted education should be implemented to improve early detection of breast cancer.