Breast cancer illness narratives: Examining the experience of living with breast cancer.

摘要

This study investigated the experience of living with a diagnosis of breast cancer during the first few years after diagnosis. It was hypothesized that experiences would differ based on differences in biomedical treatment protocols, especially in regard to contact with biomedicine. 33 women, 13 who took chemotherapy and 20 who were taking tamoxifen, were interviewed using a semi-structured interview format. The interviews focused on collecting their illness narratives, knowledge and use of complementary therapies for breast cancer, and information about their social networks. It was found that there were no differences in the way that the women in both groups experienced the uncertainty about their disease and its potential consequences, despite differing treatment protocols and contact patterns. Six key themes emerged from the narratives: “not dwelling on it”, “doing what needed to be done”, normalcy, aging, body image, and cycles of anxiety and release as well as ways in which the woman act to normalize their illness experiences and marginalize the illness to the periphery of their lives. A potential new social role was identified, the “risk role”, although the evidence was not conclusive whether this is a true social role change or a change in self perception by the woman only. These findings have important implications for the framing of research in chronic illness, liminality, risk, and the narrative construction of illness experience.