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Broken yet brave : Arabic Women's experience of a breast cancer diagnosis
Alsababha, Rawan McDermid, Fiona O'Reilly, Rebecca Mannix, Judy Peters, Kath
Alsababha, Rawan
McDermid, Fiona
O'Reilly, Rebecca
Mannix, Judy
Peters, Kath
Abstract
Introduction:
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Arabic women and is often diagnosed in advanced stages, resulting in an increased likelihood of requiring a mastectomy. Despite this, there is a lack of contemporary literature exploring Arabic women’s experiences of breast cancer and its sequelae.
Method:
Semi-structured interviews were conducted between 2019 and 2022 of Arabic women diagnosed with breast cancer. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis as described by Braun and Clark.
Results:
Two main themes were identified: (a) Broken yet brave describes participants’ experiences when diagnosed and (b) Making decisions about treatment and experiences of support detailing their lack of decision-making autonomy and perceptions of support.
Discussion:
Arabic women believe in the concept of fate and faith, and their cultural conditioning is to prioritize family over themselves, often with limited support. They lack autonomy in decision-making due to the patriarchal society they live in.
Keywords
Arabic women, breast cancer, mastectomy, experiences, feminist perspective
Date
2024
Type
Journal article
Journal
Journal of Transcultural Nursing
Book
Volume
35
Issue
6
Page Range
436-442
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY-NC 4.0
File Access
Open
Notes
© The Author(s) 2024.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).