The lived experience of bilateral risk-reducing mastectomy and impact on body image in young women with increased lifetime hereditary breast cancer risk
No Thumbnail Available
Authors
Meeting name
Sponsors
Date
Journal Title
Format
Thesis
Subject
Abstract
Previvor is a term applied to a person with an identified, elevated lifetime cancer risk but who lacks a cancer diagnosis. Management strategies can be undertaken to decrease the risk of developing certain cancers. For women with a pathogenic variant that increases the predisposition for a breast cancer diagnosis, a bilateral risk-reducing mastectomy (BRRM) is the most effective cancer prevention strategy. Currently, there is a dearth of literature examining BRRM and its effects on young women. This study sought to understand the lived experience of BRRM, along with its impact on body image, in young female previvors in the first 12 months following surgery. Two qualitative methods, descriptive phenomenology and photo-elicitation, were utilized to describe the lived experience of BRRM and body image. Narrative data served as the primary data source, augmented by participant-provided visual data. A sample of 13 women were interviewed. Eight themes were found to describe how young previvors process an increased lifetime breast cancer risk, select BRRM and reconstruction methods, and express the effect of BRRM on body image. Findings provide a rich description of risk-reduction and body image outcomes in young previvors. Results from this project will be used to design future research for improving the physical and psychosocial health of this unique population.
Table of Contents
DOI
PubMed ID
Degree
Ph. D.