Background: Breast and cervical cancer remain a major cause of morbidity and mortality for women in Indonesia. Although this cancer can be detected early, women are still less active in selfdetecting breast and cervical cancer, so both cancers are found at an advanced stage. This study aimed to explore how women's knowledge, barriers, and motivations are related to early detection of breast and cervical cancer. Subjects and Method: This was a qualitative study, with focus group discussions (FGDs) and interviews with key informants. Discussions and interviews were conducted in the community within Ledok Kulon village, Bojonegoro Regency, East Java, Indonesia. Participants: FGD participants involved 20 women, 10 women underwent FDG about cervical cancer and 10 other women conducted FGD about breast cancer. Three key informants interviewed with health worker and administrator that allow triangulation of responses thereby increasing the validity of the findings. Participants were aged 20 to ≥60 years, with no history of symptoms or previous diagnosis of breast or cervical cancer. The women were interviewed in October-November 2019. The transcribed data were analyzed using content analysis. Results: Participants' knowledge about understanding, risk factors, signs and symptoms of breast and cervical cancer was still lacking. Participants attributed the cause of cervical cancer to the vaginal wound resulting in cervical cancer and signs of symptoms such as heartburn. Whereas for breast cancer participants were not know the signs and symptoms, they only said there was a lump in the breast. Barriers to screening were ashamed to be examined by health workers, afraid of testing procedures, feeling healthy and there were no signs of cancer. Screening motivation were experiencing signs and symptoms of cancer, family history of the disease and awareness of the disease/screening service. Conclusion:The study participants' knowledge of breast and cervical cancer was still lacking. To improve breast and cervical cancer screening, efforts must focus on reducing identified barriers and increasing motivation.
Background: Maintaining genital cleanliness is essential for women since intimate organ problems can cause female tract infections. Poor genital hygiene can affect sexually transmitted infections, and therefore, it is prominent to investigate factors related to genital hygiene behaviors in women to reduce this type of infection.Purpose: This study aimed to find out the factors associated with genital hygiene behaviors in cervical cancer patients.Methods: A case-control study was conducted on cervical cancer patients in Surakarta, Indonesia, from December 2017 to February 2018. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 178 subjects using a fixed disease sampling technique that consisted of 56 cases of poor genital hygiene behaviors and 122 controls of good genital hygiene behaviors with a comparison of 1:2. The dependent variable was genital hygiene behaviors, while the independent variables were stress, exposure to social media regarding genital hygiene, environmental sanitation, husband’s education, and support. Logistic regression was employed for data analysis.Results: Genital hygiene behaviors increased with exposure to social media related to genital hygiene (OR=9.20; 95% CI=3.87 to 21.87, p<0.001), good environmental sanitation (OR=5.16; 95% CI=2.19 to 12.14, p<0.001), high husband’s education (OR=6.49; 95% CI=2.23 to 18.91, p=0.001) and support (OR=2.88; 95% CI=1.24 to 6.67, p=0.013). Women who experienced psychological problems such as stress showed decreased genital hygiene behaviors (OR=0.25; 95% CI=0.94 to 0.71, p=0.009).Conclusions: Genital hygiene behaviors in women increased with exposure to social media related to genital hygiene, adequate environmental sanitation, high husbands’ education, and support. In contrast, stress decreased women’s behaviors in practicing genital hygiene. These findings emphasize the need for women to improve genital hygiene behaviors as well as for nurses to explain how to increase women's genital hygiene behaviors.
Background Medical students are more likely to have various physical and psychological issues, but less information is available about the healthcare-seeking behaviour for physical and mental health issues. The aim of this study is to determine the factors affecting medical students' healthcare-seeking when visiting a general practitioner (GP) and/or psychologist. Methods 688 medical students (326 International and 362 Hungarian,) participated in a cross-sectional study. The information was gathered using a self-administered online questionnaire and covered socio-demographic background, health behaviour, general and mental health status and healthcare-seeking. For analysing adjusted associations, multivariable logistic regression models were used. Results Overall, 56.8% of medical students visit the GP; and 17.2%, the psychologist. Hungarian medical students visited the GP with chronic diseases, International medical students were more likely to visit a GP when they encountered sexual activity and had chronic diseases. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between sex, alcohol consumption, and perceived stress in the total sample of psychologist visits. When Hungarian medical students were in their clinical years and had a poor self-rated mental health, they were more likely to visit a psychologist. Whereas female international medical students and those who had poor self-rated mental health were more likely to seek psychological help. Conclusion Students visit a GP and/or psychologist for a variety of reasons, including socio-demographic background, risky health behaviours, and health issues. Medical schools should encourage help-seeking behaviours and early disclosure of medical students. Their ability to grasp healthcare attitudes and designing treatments will be important for both their academic success and future profession.
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