Breast self-examination: do religious beliefs matter? A descriptive study.
BACKGROUND
A descriptive study was conducted in Tehran, Iran, to investigate the beliefs of Muslim women and their practices regarding screening modalities of breast cancer.


METHODS
A questionnaire was specially designed and validated to collect data and was completed by 410 Muslim women.


RESULTS
A vast majority of women (90 per cent) said that breast self-examination is not against their religious beliefs. With regard to clinical breast examination, although 58 per cent preferred to be examined by a female physician, 47 per cent said that clinical breast examination by a male physician is not against their Islamic beliefs. However, only 6 per cent of respondents performed breast self-examination on a regular basis (monthly).


CONCLUSIONS
The study findings suggest that most Muslim women do not perceive breast self-examination as being against their Islamic beliefs and that they believe clinical breast examination by a male physician does not interfere with their religious beliefs.
Montazeri
Ali
A
Iranian Centre for Breast Cancer, PO Box 13185-1488, Tehran, Iran. ali@jdcord.jd.ac.ir
Haji-Mahmoodi
Mehregan
M
Jarvandi
Soghra
S
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D016504:Breast Self-Examination / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D007514:Islam / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016387:Women's Health