Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Jun;79(6):2081-2097.
doi: 10.1111/jan.15574. Epub 2023 Mar 6.

The mirror viewing experience of women undergoing a mastectomy: An integrative review

Tracy E Tyner  1 , Wyona M Freysteinson  2
Affiliations
Review

The mirror viewing experience of women undergoing a mastectomy: An integrative review

Tracy E Tyner et al. J Adv Nurs. 2023 Jun.

Abstract

Aims: To appraise the current literature on the mirror viewing experience of women undergoing a mastectomy.

Design: Whittemore and Knafl's approach to integrative reviews, Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis, and PRISMA guidelines were utilized for this review.

Data sources: A systematic search of primary peer-reviewed articles from April 2012 to 2022 was conducted using PubMed, CINAHL, Academic Search Complete and Google Scholar databases.

Review methods: Eighteen studies met the inclusion criteria (15 qualitative and 3 quantitative) and were appraised using the Johns Hopkins evidence-based practice appraisal instrument.

Results: Five themes describing the mirror viewing experience were revealed: Mirror viewing motives, mirror viewing preparedness, mirror viewing experience, mirror comfort/avoidance and women's mirror viewing recommendations.

Conclusion: The review findings were found to align with Freysteinson's Neurocognitive Mirror Viewing Model highlighting the occurrence of short-term memory disruptions and an autonomic nervous system response that can lead women to experience a flight/fright or faint response, mirror trauma and mirror avoidance when looking at themselves in the mirror after a mastectomy.

Impact: Women reported feeling unprepared to look at themselves in the mirror, with some experiencing shock and emotional distress, which led to mirror avoidance behaviours as a way to cope with their new body image. Nursing interventions aimed at improving women's mirror viewing experiences may help mitigate this autonomic nervous system response and minimize mirror trauma and mirror avoidance. Preparing women to view themselves in the mirror for the first time may help reduce psychological distress and body image disturbances in women undergoing a mastectomy.

No patient or public contribution: This integrative review did not involve patient or public contributions. The authors reviewed currently published peer-reviewed literature in writing this manuscript.

Keywords: body image; breast cancer; literature review; mastectomy; mirror; nursing; psychological distress.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Bakeer, M., Coker, C., Atamian, E., Yoo, D., Torabi, R., & Riker, A. I. (2020). A single-institution case series of outpatient same-day mastectomy: Implementation of a quality improvement project and initiative for enhanced recovery after surgery. The Ochsner Journal, 20(4), 388-393. https://doi.org/10.31486/toj.20.0040
    1. Baskin, A. S., Wang, T., Bredbeck, B. C., Sinco, B. R., Berlin, N. L., & Dossett, L. A. (2021). Trends in contralateral prophylactic mastectomy utilization for small unilateral breast cancer. The Journal of Surgical Research, 262, 71-84. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jss.2020.12.057
    1. Baxter, N. N., Goodwin, P. J., Mcleod, R. S., Dion, R., Devins, G., & Bombardier, C. (2006). Reliability and validity of the body image after breast cancer questionnaire. The Breast Journal, 12(3), 221-232. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1075-122X.2006.00246.x
    1. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77-101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
    1. Brunet, J., Sabiston, C. M., & Burke, S. (2013). Surviving breast cancer: Women's experiences with their changed bodies. Body Image, 10(3), 344-351. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bodyim.2013.02.002

LinkOut - more resources