Effects of the social representation of breasts upon the breast cancer prevention in a group of Colombian women

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a study to understand the social representations of breast cancer and how they influence breast cancer prevention and self-care practices in a group of women from Medellin– Colombia. Is a qualitative study carried out with 19 in-depth interviews to 19 adult women who have not had breast cancer and using the sampling criterion of maximum variation. In our analysis, we used the guidelines of Grounded Theory. The findings show that there is a social representation of breasts as object of attraction and a negative representation of breast cancer, none of these representations foster breast cancer prevention nor contribute to self-care practices such as breast self-examination, clinical breast screening and mammography. In synthesis, there are problematic constructions of the feminine body among participants that deserve to be revised and denounced as political issue essential to the construction of feminine subjectivity.

Keywords

• cuerpo
• imagen corporal
• belleza
• autocuidado
• cáncer de mama
• género
• salud
• representaciones sociales y estética