Women’s Lived Experiences of Femininity after Mastectomy and Treatment: A Qualitative Study

Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer among women, and mastectomy, the surgical treatment for this cancer, affects different aspects of patients’ life. This study aimed to describe women’s lived experiences of femininity after mastectomy and treatment.

This qualitative study was conducted on 17 breast cancer survivors in Tehran in 2018-2019. The participants, who were selected through snowball sampling, had undergone mastectomy at least 6 months before and were younger than 50 years. Data were collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews and analyzed with the contractual content analysis method.

The analysis of patients’ experiences led to the identification of 7 main themes (and 18 subtheme): social life (social isolation, quitting the job or getting a part-time job, and dropping out of school), body image (being asymmetric, being unattractive, and requiring reconstructive surgery), others’ opinions (complaining about how others look at them and concerns of being pitied), marital relationships (fear of abandonment, fear of spouse’s pity, shame of being nude, and compromised sexual intimacy), reproductive health (premature menopause and possible infertility), perceived support (attending support group meetings and keeping in touch with cured ones), taking responsibilities of household works (inability to do housewife affairs and inability to do the housework).

Mastectomy and treatment for breast cancer greatly affect many areas of individual and social life and marital relationships of patients, necessitating the need to develop and establish free support resources by NGOs and highlighting the government’s role in reducing the psychological and family damage caused by the disease.