Patient perspectives on the causes of breast cancer: a qualitative study on the relationship between stress, trauma, and breast cancer development

International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health & Well-Being

Erica Niebauer¹  Helané Wahbeh²  Nina Fry²  Lisa A. Auster-Gussman³ 

[1] Independent Researcher;Institute of Noetic Sciences;Northwestern University;

关键词: breast cancer;    trauma;    adverse childhood experiences;    stress;    causal attribution;   

DOI  :  10.1080/17482631.2021.1983949

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Purpose: We qualitatively evaluated breast cancer survivors’ perception of the relation between breast cancer development and both childhood trauma and stressful life events in adulthood. Methods: Women (N = 50) who have or had a positive breast cancer diagnosis completed a close-ended survey, a timeline of significant life events, and an in-depth interview. All interviews were transcribed and inductively coded using thematic analysis with an emphasis on patient perspectives of illness. Results: Participants reported a perceived connection between breast cancer development and stressful life events, and four themes were identified: 1) experiencing major interpersonal stress in both childhood and adulthood, 2) ideas about the relationship between emotional stress and physical disease, 3) ideas about how different types of stress contribute to developing breast cancer, 4) post-treatment post-traumatic growth and meaning-making. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that of the participants who felt something could be causally attributed to their developing breast cancer, most of them made causal attributions between social, personal, and physical stress and trauma across the lifetime to the aetiology of their breast cancer. We suggest that breast cancer patients and survivors may benefit from additional psycho-social, stress-reducing, and/or somatic-based trauma-informed therapies to address stress and trauma.

【 授权许可】

Unknown