Relationship between Body Image and Breast Self-examination Intentions and Behaviors among Female University Students in Malaysia

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the relationship between body image satisfaction and breast self-screening behaviors and intentions. The sample for this cross-sectional study consisted of 842 female university students who were recruited from a number of public and private universities. Data were obtained between the months of November and December, 2013, using multistage random cluster sampling. Main research variables were breast cancer screening behavior and intentions, demographic factors, and the total scores on each of the Multidimensional Body-Self Relations Questionnaire (MBSRQ-Appearance Scales) subscales. Results of multivariate analysis showed that having higher satisfaction and more positive evaluation of appearance were related to having performed breast self-examination more frequently in the last year and intending to perform breast self-examination more frequently in the next year. Longitudinal research can potentially provide detailed information about overall body image satisfaction and breast cancer screening behavior among various communities.

Association of Knowledge and Cultural Perceptions of Malaysian Women with Delay in Diagnosis and Treatment of Breast Cancer: a Systematic Review

“…Furthermore, Samah and Ahmadian's findings showed a significant relationship between body image satisfaction and BSE behaviours among women. This is true especially among young women university students as they evaluate their overall appearance more often in order to attain body image satisfaction (Samah and Ahmadian, 2014). Nevertheless, more interventions need to be carried out to study and explore the relationship between overall body image satisfaction and women's breast health behaviours among various populations.…”

“…Most women wanted to have power over their treatment, had strong beliefs in the benefits in CAM and used it as their last hope. They also had previous bad experiences with modern medicine which caused them to doubt modern treatment (Norsa'adah et al, 2011;Chui et al, 2014;Samah and Ahmadian, 2014). In addition, they are more comfortable with using CAM since traditional healers or shamans are considered to be more patientfriendly (Norsa'adah et al, 2011).…”

“…The most common category was natural products such as vitamins (82.8%), followed by mind-body practices (50.7%), and traditional medicine (35.7%) (Chui et al, 2014). Even so, mind-body practices were perceived to be the most helpful with prayer-for-health being the most popular CAM, specifically among the Malays due to their daily praying routine (Chui et al, 2014;Samah and Ahmadian, 2014). Prayer may invoke a relaxation response, which in turn may positively affect health and overall wellbeing (Chui et al, 2014;Samah and Ahmadian, 2014).…”

“…CAM users were more likely to be Malays, have a higher level of education, higher household income, and have advanced cancer than non-CAM users (Chui et al, 2014). Samah and Ahmadian through their study also showed that the absence of spousal or social support leads to increased use of CAM, and that such patients were also less likely to have their chemotherapy on schedule than non-CAM users (Samah and Ahmadian, 2014). This leads to elevated rates of delayed or interrupted breast cancer treatment due to frequent visits to traditional healers (Chui et al, 2014).…”

“…Another important point highlighted by Samah and Ahmadian was that only a small proportion of breast cancer survivors (25%) actually received information on CAM from healthcare professionals. This suggests that most women obtain information on CAM from nonscientific resources (Samah and Ahmadian, 2014).…”