“I Was Like an Autumn Leaf That Looks Pretty From the Outside, but Would Break Once You Touched It”: A Case Study of the Lived Experience of Breast Cancer Survival

Authors

Wafa Hamad ALmegewly, Community Health Nursing Department, College of Nursing, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaFollow
Dinah Gould, City London UniversityFollow
Sally Anstey, Cardiff University/ School of Healthcare SciencesFollow

Abstract

In this hermeneutic phenomenological case study, we explored the lived experiences of one Saudi Arabian woman, Sahara, living with breast cancer and after, identifying her culture’s impact on the “meaning-making” process. We derived the data from a semi-structured interview and analyzed using interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA). The themes were: (1) “discourse”: being a breast cancer patient; (2) “sociality”: the complex sense of living with visibility and invisibility; and (3) “selfhood”: regaining the sense of being normal. The study benefits healthcare providers, who need to understand women’s life-world, the impact of culture when designing a program of survival care, and the response to their needs.

Keywords

breast cancer, survivorship, case study, culture, lived experience, interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA)

Author Bio(s)

Wafa ALmegewly is an assistant professor in Community Health Nursing Department in the College of Nursing, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University. The focus of much of her research to date has been on quality of life in patients with cancer, culture, and patients' experience. Please direct correspondence to whalmegewly@pnu.edu.sa.

Dinah Gould is an honorary visiting professor City London University. She undertakes research to explore health need and innovations in health care using observational and intervention methodologies. Please direct correspondence to ansteys1@cardiff.ac.uk.

Sally Anstey is a senior lecturer of Adult Nursing in Cardiff University, School of Healthcare Sciences. Her research activities include cancer, end-of-life care, mental health, and patient voices in education. Please direct correspondence to dinahgould@outlook.com.

Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Deanship of Scientific Research at Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University through the Fast-track Research Funding Program

Publication Date

5-3-2021

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4669

Recommended APA Citation

ALmegewly, W. H., Gould, D., & Anstey, S. (2021). “I Was Like an Autumn Leaf That Looks Pretty From the Outside, but Would Break Once You Touched It”: A Case Study of the Lived Experience of Breast Cancer Survival. The Qualitative Report, 26(5), 1331-1344. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4669

ResearcherID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8582-4708