Survivor's experience in fighting breast cancer

Abstract

Considering that breast cancer diagnosis affects a woman physically and emotionally, treatment during the therapy phase requires enthusiasm. Therefore, this study aims to explore breast cancer survivors' experiences with treatment. A qualitative methodology was used, while the data were collected with in-depth interviews and analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. The study samples included up to five individuals who met the inclusion criteria of having stage III breast cancer for longer than 5 years without metastases and were obtained using the purposive sampling technique. Two themes emerged from the interview data, namely, the past events and the psychological state of breast cancer patients. There were four subthemes under the overall theme of the events, including risk factors for breast cancer, symptoms, extensive therapy, and preventing metastases. Meanwhile, the psychological state theme contained six sub-themes, including rejection and anger against diagnosis, despair, embracing the disease, self-concept, and stress. Before beginning treatment, patients implicitly expect clinicians to provide them with a thorough explanation of how chemotherapy works. Based on the results, it can be concluded that supporting and empowering breast cancer patients is a struggle for caregivers and healthcare professionals.

Keywords: Breast cancer; experience; survivor.