Open AccessThe breast cancer patient's experience of making radiation therapy treatment decisions
Author(s) -
Halkett Georgia KB,
Arbon Paul,
Scutter Sheila D,
Borg Martin
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
radiographer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.484
H-Index - 18
eISSN - 2051-3909
pISSN - 0033-8273
DOI - 10.1002/j.2051-3909.2005.tb00025.x
Subject(s) - breast cancer , radiation therapist , radiation therapy , qualitative research , phenomenology (philosophy) , medicine , interpretative phenomenological analysis , hermeneutic phenomenology , perspective (graphical) , psychotherapist , lived experience , psychology , cancer , family medicine , surgery , sociology , social science , philosophy , epistemology , artificial intelligence , computer science
Women who are diagnosed with breast cancer have many decisions to make during the course of their treatment. The aims of this paper are to describe the women's experience of making radiation therapy treatment decisions for early breast cancer and to explore how women feel about receiving radiation therapy. An in‐depth understanding of the women's experience was developed using a qualitative research approach underpinned by hermeneutic phenomenology. In‐depth interviews were conducted with 18 women who had completed treatment for early breast cancer. The themes that emerged from the data were: being challenged, getting ready, beyond control, regaining a sense of control and getting through it. This study provides health professionals with an initial understanding of the women's perspective of the experience of making radiation therapy treatment decisions for early breast cancer. This study concludes by suggesting that further research needs to be conducted to gain an understanding of how other patients feel about treatment decision‐making and radiation therapy.