Challenges and opportunities for breast cancer early detection among rural dwelling women in Segamat District, Malaysia: A qualitative study.
<h4>Introduction</h4>Breast cancer patients in low- and middle-income countries often present at an advanced stage. This qualitative study elicited views regarding the challenges and opportunities for breast cancer screening and early detection among women in a low-income semi-rural comm...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2022-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0267308&type=printable |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1849332008847671296 |
|---|---|
| author | Désirée Schliemann Wilfred Mok Kok Hoe Devi Mohan Pascale Allotey Daniel D Reidpath Min Min Tan Nur Aishah Mohd Taib Michael Donnelly Tin Tin Su |
| author_facet | Désirée Schliemann Wilfred Mok Kok Hoe Devi Mohan Pascale Allotey Daniel D Reidpath Min Min Tan Nur Aishah Mohd Taib Michael Donnelly Tin Tin Su |
| author_sort | Désirée Schliemann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <h4>Introduction</h4>Breast cancer patients in low- and middle-income countries often present at an advanced stage. This qualitative study elicited views regarding the challenges and opportunities for breast cancer screening and early detection among women in a low-income semi-rural community in Segamat district, Malaysia.<h4>Methods</h4>Individual semi-structured interviews with 22 people (health professionals, cancer survivors, community volunteers and member from a non-governmental organization) and four focus group discussions (n = 22 participants) with women from a local community were conducted. All participants were purposively sampled and female residents registered with the South East Asia Community Observatory aged ≥40 years were eligible to participate in the focus group discussions. Data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis.<h4>Results</h4>The thematic analysis illuminated barriers, challenges and opportunities across six domains: (i) personal experiences and barriers to help-seeking as well as financial and travel access barriers; (ii) primary care challenges (related to delivering clinical breast examination and teaching breast-self-examination); (iii) secondary care challenges (related to mammogram services); (iv) disconnection between secondary and primary care breast cancer screening pathways; and (v) opportunities to improve breast cancer early detection relating to community civil service society activities (i.e. awareness raising, support groups, addressing stigma/embarrassment and encouraging husbands to support women) and vi) links between public healthcare personnel and community (i.e. improving breast self-examination education, clinical breast examination provision and subsidised mammograms).<h4>Conclusion</h4>The results point to a variety of reasons for low uptake and, therefore, to the complex nature of improving breast cancer screening and early detection. There is a need to adopt a systems approach to address this complexity and to take account of the socio-cultural context of communities in order, in turn, to strengthen cancer control policy and practices in Malaysia. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-ae674b4d1f174d28b1f5b56ecf94a56c |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-ae674b4d1f174d28b1f5b56ecf94a56c2025-08-20T03:46:21ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-01175e026730810.1371/journal.pone.0267308Challenges and opportunities for breast cancer early detection among rural dwelling women in Segamat District, Malaysia: A qualitative study.Désirée SchliemannWilfred Mok Kok HoeDevi MohanPascale AlloteyDaniel D ReidpathMin Min TanNur Aishah Mohd TaibMichael DonnellyTin Tin Su<h4>Introduction</h4>Breast cancer patients in low- and middle-income countries often present at an advanced stage. This qualitative study elicited views regarding the challenges and opportunities for breast cancer screening and early detection among women in a low-income semi-rural community in Segamat district, Malaysia.<h4>Methods</h4>Individual semi-structured interviews with 22 people (health professionals, cancer survivors, community volunteers and member from a non-governmental organization) and four focus group discussions (n = 22 participants) with women from a local community were conducted. All participants were purposively sampled and female residents registered with the South East Asia Community Observatory aged ≥40 years were eligible to participate in the focus group discussions. Data were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using thematic analysis.<h4>Results</h4>The thematic analysis illuminated barriers, challenges and opportunities across six domains: (i) personal experiences and barriers to help-seeking as well as financial and travel access barriers; (ii) primary care challenges (related to delivering clinical breast examination and teaching breast-self-examination); (iii) secondary care challenges (related to mammogram services); (iv) disconnection between secondary and primary care breast cancer screening pathways; and (v) opportunities to improve breast cancer early detection relating to community civil service society activities (i.e. awareness raising, support groups, addressing stigma/embarrassment and encouraging husbands to support women) and vi) links between public healthcare personnel and community (i.e. improving breast self-examination education, clinical breast examination provision and subsidised mammograms).<h4>Conclusion</h4>The results point to a variety of reasons for low uptake and, therefore, to the complex nature of improving breast cancer screening and early detection. There is a need to adopt a systems approach to address this complexity and to take account of the socio-cultural context of communities in order, in turn, to strengthen cancer control policy and practices in Malaysia.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0267308&type=printable |
| spellingShingle | Désirée Schliemann Wilfred Mok Kok Hoe Devi Mohan Pascale Allotey Daniel D Reidpath Min Min Tan Nur Aishah Mohd Taib Michael Donnelly Tin Tin Su Challenges and opportunities for breast cancer early detection among rural dwelling women in Segamat District, Malaysia: A qualitative study. PLoS ONE |
| title | Challenges and opportunities for breast cancer early detection among rural dwelling women in Segamat District, Malaysia: A qualitative study. |
| title_full | Challenges and opportunities for breast cancer early detection among rural dwelling women in Segamat District, Malaysia: A qualitative study. |
| title_fullStr | Challenges and opportunities for breast cancer early detection among rural dwelling women in Segamat District, Malaysia: A qualitative study. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Challenges and opportunities for breast cancer early detection among rural dwelling women in Segamat District, Malaysia: A qualitative study. |
| title_short | Challenges and opportunities for breast cancer early detection among rural dwelling women in Segamat District, Malaysia: A qualitative study. |
| title_sort | challenges and opportunities for breast cancer early detection among rural dwelling women in segamat district malaysia a qualitative study |
| url | https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0267308&type=printable |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT desireeschliemann challengesandopportunitiesforbreastcancerearlydetectionamongruraldwellingwomeninsegamatdistrictmalaysiaaqualitativestudy AT wilfredmokkokhoe challengesandopportunitiesforbreastcancerearlydetectionamongruraldwellingwomeninsegamatdistrictmalaysiaaqualitativestudy AT devimohan challengesandopportunitiesforbreastcancerearlydetectionamongruraldwellingwomeninsegamatdistrictmalaysiaaqualitativestudy AT pascaleallotey challengesandopportunitiesforbreastcancerearlydetectionamongruraldwellingwomeninsegamatdistrictmalaysiaaqualitativestudy AT danieldreidpath challengesandopportunitiesforbreastcancerearlydetectionamongruraldwellingwomeninsegamatdistrictmalaysiaaqualitativestudy AT minmintan challengesandopportunitiesforbreastcancerearlydetectionamongruraldwellingwomeninsegamatdistrictmalaysiaaqualitativestudy AT nuraishahmohdtaib challengesandopportunitiesforbreastcancerearlydetectionamongruraldwellingwomeninsegamatdistrictmalaysiaaqualitativestudy AT michaeldonnelly challengesandopportunitiesforbreastcancerearlydetectionamongruraldwellingwomeninsegamatdistrictmalaysiaaqualitativestudy AT tintinsu challengesandopportunitiesforbreastcancerearlydetectionamongruraldwellingwomeninsegamatdistrictmalaysiaaqualitativestudy |