Abstract
Breast cancer risk classifications are useful for prognosis, yet little is known of their effect on patients. This study clarified women’s understandings of risk as they “journeyed” through the health care system. Breast cancer patients and women undergoing genetic investigation were recruited (N = 25) from a large UK Health Board, 2014–2015, completing a “Book of Experience,” and Bio-photographic elicitation interviews. Stakeholder and Participant Feedback Forums were undertaken with key stakeholders, including patients, oncologists, funders, and policy developers, to inform team understanding. Thematic and visual frameworks from multidisciplinary analysis workshops uncovered two themes: “Subjective Understandings of Risk” and “Journeying Toward an Unknown Future.” Breast cancer patients and women undergoing investigation experienced risk intuitively. Statistical formulations were often perplexing, diverting attention away from concrete life-and-death facts. Following risk classification, care must be co-defined to reduce patients’ foreboding about an unknown future, taking into consideration personal risk management strategies and aspirations for a cancer-free future.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 30-46 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Qualitative Health Research |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 22 Sept 2017 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jan 2018 |
Keywords
- breast cancer
- journeying
- multi-stage qualitative methods
- psychosocial aspects
- risk
- UK
- Wales
Access to Document
- Full-text PDF (accepted author manuscript)
This is the author accepted manuscript (AAM). The final published version (version of record) is available online via Sage at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1049732317730569 . Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.