The purpose of this study was threefold; to examine the unique challenges faced among young breast cancer survivors’ self-concepts; to explore the identity reformulation process as they adjust to a new lifestyle after completing medical treatment; and to identify women’s creative problem solving solution used to mitigate any long-term distress and discontinuity between past, current and ideal selves. In-person semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 young breast cancer survivors (aged 32-45). The results indicated that exploring women’s narratives through the identity reformulation process created an alternative approach to the four prescribed quality of life domains used to understand survivors’ overall wellbeing. The results also identified three shared domains of social location (gender, youth and health status) that intersected in women’s identity reformulation process. These findings have implications for psychosocial oncology literature, as well as clinical practice for mental health practitioners. Limitations and recommendations for areas of future research were discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/33678 |
| Date | 29 November 2012 |
| Creators | Trachtenberg, Lianne |
| Contributors | Piran, Niva |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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