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The experience of suffering as lived by women with breast cancer
Annie Perreault1, Frances Fothergill Bourbonnais
1Centre CARMEN, 253 Bellehumeur, Gatineau, Qc, Canada. annie.perreault@centrecarmen.ca
Background:
The advances in screening and treatment technologies for breast cancer allow many women to survive. However, their experience of suffering throughout this illness journey is not understood totally.
Aim:
To explore the experience of suffering as lived by women with breast cancer.
Design:
A qualitative inquiry based on Heidegger's phenomenological approach was used to collect, code and analyse the data. Open-ended questions were asked to six women during an individual interview to allow the participants to voice their lived experiences.
Results:
The voicing of their stories revealed a process of transformation as a response to the suffering experienced. The descriptions were deeply spiritual and connected to nature. The self-descriptions of their lived experience led to the construction of the Five Seasons of the Tree of Life.
Conclusion:
Nurses need to be cognizant of the multidimensionality of suffering so that interventions can be developed.
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