Beliefs and Behavior of Malaysia Undergraduate Female Students in a Public University Toward Breast Self-examination Practice

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> Breast cancer is the most common cancer and the second principal cause of cancer deaths amongwomen worldwide, including Malaysia. <br/><b>Methods</b>: A cross-sectional study was carried out among 262 femaleundergraduate students in University Putra Malaysia using a validated questionnaire which was developed forthis study. <br/><b>Results</b>: 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 hadpracticed BSE. Motivation and self-efficacy of the respondents who performed BSE were significantly highercompared with women who did not (p<0.05).There was no association between BSE practice and demographicdetails (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 toperform the screening. <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: The findings show that Malaysian young female’s perception regarding breastcancer and the practice of BSE is low. Targeted education should be implemented to improve early detection ofbreast cancer.