Lack of Kudrat: a physical illness experience of young Malay breast cancer patients

• Main Author: Sulaiman, Szariannie
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Putra Malaysia Kampus Bintulu, Sarawak 2019
• Subjects: GN Anthropology; R Medicine (General); RG Gynecology and obstetrics
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/77779/1/77779_Lack%20of%20Kudrat.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/77779/; http://spel3.upm.edu.my/max/dokumen/ICSSH2019_e_proceeding_ICOSSH_2019_UPMKB_(with_eISBN).pdf

This qualitative study aims at exploring the illness experiences of young Malay breast cancer patients in relation to the symptoms they suffered from. Thirteen young Malay breast cancer patients in Kuala Lumpur and several selected areas of Selangor were selected through purposive snowballing technique. In relation to this, an ethnographic fieldwork employing a qualitative approach was conducted for approximately 10 months. A series of in-depth interviews, phone and online interviews guided by semistructured interview schedule and participant observation were carried out among the informants of this study. This is imperative particularly to make sense the meaning of illness as perceived by the Malay informants. Data obtained from the fieldwork was analysed thematically to gain understanding of the stories conveyed by informants. Codes were then generated in relation to the study’s objective. It is evident from the present study that young Malay informants had described their illness experiences in terms of physical dimension. As such they perceived having 'semput', 'tak boleh makan' and' tak boleh pergi kerja' as the ingredients of lack of kudrat. This study holds an important implication in contributing to the existing corpus of knowledge as far as medical anthropology is concerned. It is also significant for health care providers and support networks in better understanding breast cancer patients’ conditions, medical problems, psychosocial needs and quality of life in coping with cancer.