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Managing sexual dysfunction for women with breast cancer: the perspective of healthcare providers in North East Malaysia

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Abstract

Purpose

Management of female sexual dysfunction (FSD) is vital for women with breast cancer due to the devastating consequences, which include marital disharmony and reduced quality of life. We explore healthcare providers’ (HCPs) perceptions and experiences in managing FSD for women living with breast cancer using a phenomenological approach.

Methods

This qualitative study was conducted using a face-to-face interview method with HCPs from two tertiary hospitals in North East Malaysia. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim, and transferred to NVivo ® for data management. The transcriptions were analyzed using thematic analysis.

Results

Three key barriers were identified through the thematic analysis: a scarcity of related knowledge; the influence of socio-cultural ideas about sex; and the specialty-centric nature of the healthcare system. Most HCPs interviewed had a very narrow understanding of sexuality, were unfamiliar with the meaning of FSD, and felt their training on sexual health issues to be very limited. They viewed talking about sex to be embarrassing to both parties that are both to HCPs and patients and was therefore not a priority. They focused more on their specialty hence limited the time to discuss sexual health and FSD with their patients.

Conclusion

Therefore, interventions to empower the knowledge, break the socio-cultural barriers, and improve the clinic settings are crucial for HCPs in managing FSD confidently.

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Availability of data and material

Data are kept at the Family Medicine Department, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16,150 Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia. Data will be shared upon request and it is subjected to the data protection regulations.

Code availability

Not applicable.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all HCPs that participated in this study

Funding

This study was funded by Universiti Sains Malaysia with Research University Grants (1001/PPSP/8012284) and Graduate Development Study Incentive Fund (TIPPS).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Family Medicine, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia

    Siti Balqis Chanmekun, Maryam Mohd Zulkifli & Rosediani Muhamad

  2. School of Health Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia

    Norhasmah Mohd Zain

  3. Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Wah Yun Low

  4. Asia-Europe Institute, University of Malaya, 50603, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

    Wah Yun Low

  5. College of Health Sciences, VinUniversity, Gia Lam District, Hanoi, 100000, Vietnam

    Pranee Liamputtong

  6. Translational Health Research Institute (THRI), Western Sydney University, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia

    Pranee Liamputtong

Authors
  1. Siti Balqis Chanmekun
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  2. Maryam Mohd Zulkifli
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  3. Rosediani Muhamad
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  4. Norhasmah Mohd Zain
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  5. Wah Yun Low
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  6. Pranee Liamputtong
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Siti Balqis Chanmekun, Maryam Mohd Zulkifli, Norhasmah Mohd Zin, Rosediani Muhamad, Low Wah Yun, and Pranee Liamputtong. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Siti Balqis Chanmekun and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maryam Mohd Zulkifli.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

The study protocol and the questionnaires used in this study were reviewed and approved by the ethical approval of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM/JEPeM/17090387) and Ministry of Health of Malaysia. (NMRR-18–373-39791(IIR)).

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Consent for publication

Patients signed informed consent regarding publishing their data.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Chanmekun, S.B., Zulkifli, M.M., Muhamad, R. et al. Managing sexual dysfunction for women with breast cancer: the perspective of healthcare providers in North East Malaysia. Support Care Cancer 30, 401–411 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06417-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-021-06417-0

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