Kvinnors upplevelser av sin kropp efter mastektomi till följd av bröstcancer

Abstract

Background: There are 9,000 women in Sweden who receive the news of breast cancer each year. Mastectomy is a surgery involving the removal of the breast. Mastectomy causes physical changes to the body such as losing one or both breasts and as a result to that, the woman may experience a sadness that needs to be processed. Aim: The aim was to investigate women's experiences of their body after a mastectomy due to breast cancer. Method: A qualitative study, based on ten scientific articles. The articles were reviewed using HKR's review template for qualitative studies. The work was conducted according to Dahlborg-Lyckhage's (2017) three-step analysis. Data collection was carried out in Cinahl Complete, PubMed, and PsycINFO. Results: The result resulted in two main categories; The role of the healthcare staff in supporting women before and after a mastectomy and the psychological effects of adapting to a new appearance. The content of the main categories in turn led to four subcategories: The symbolism of the breast and female identity, emotional experiences, negative impact on sexuality and adaptation after mastectomy. Discussion: The quality of the literature study was discussed based on Shenton's (2004) concept of credibility: reliability, verifiability, dependability and transferability. Results discussion highlights the symbolic value of the breast, which reflects societal norms and expectations for women, as well as the negative consequences that mastectomy has on women's body image and self-image. Conclusion: After mastectomy the women experienced a disturbance in identifying as a woman, which affected their self-image. Support from healthcare professionals was lacking, making the recovery process and acceptance difficult.

Date of Award	2024-Jun
Original language	Swedish
Supervisor	Helene Ekfors (Supervisor) & Cecilia Pettersson (Examiner)