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. 2018 Nov;12(6):2194-2207.
doi: 10.1177/1557988318799025. Epub 2018 Sep 15.

Men With a "Woman's Disease": Stigmatization of Male Breast Cancer Patients-A Mixed Methods Analysis

Evamarie Midding  1   2 , Sarah Maria Halbach  1   2 , Christoph Kowalski  3 , Rainer Weber  4 , Rachel Würstlein  5 , Nicole Ernstmann  1   2
Affiliations

Men With a "Woman's Disease": Stigmatization of Male Breast Cancer Patients-A Mixed Methods Analysis

Evamarie Midding et al. Am J Mens Health. 2018 Nov.

Abstract

Male breast cancer (MBC) is rare and known as a typical woman's disease. This study is part of the N-MALE project (Male breast cancer: patient's needs in prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and follow-up-care) and aims to investigate how MBC patients (MBCP) feel about suffering from a "woman's disease," what character the stigmatization has, and how it can be prospectively reduced. Therefore, a mixed methods design is applied including data of N = 27 qualitative interviews with MBCP and quantitative data of N = 100 MBCP. Findings identify a diverse picture, as stigmatization varies between contexts and patients: Most stigmatization concentrates on sexual stigmatization and ignorance of MBC and mostly occurs in cancer care systems and work-related contexts. The level of stigmatization varies with age and amount of treatment methods received, as reported within the created typology of different MBCP stigma types. To prospectively reduce stigmatization in MBCP, more publicity of MBC is needed, as well as gender-neutral communication and information material.

Keywords: (male) breast cancer; MBC; health services research; medical sociology; mixed methods; rare disease; stigma.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: CK is an employee of the German Cancer Society.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Categories of stigmatization of male breast cancer patients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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