Psychological experiences of Druze women with breast cancer

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of Druze women who were diagnosed with breast cancer. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine Druze women. Inductive thematic analysis was used to analyze the data and three themes were generated. The first was “cancer discourse”: participants utilized codeswitching and medical jargon in their rhetoric, in a manner that seemed to imply difficulty to speak directly about their experiences. The second was “self-image”: the cancer and its treatments seem to have had an impact on participants’ body image and overall sense of femininity. The third was “coping”: sense and meaning-making as well as faith and family were identified as major coping mechanisms. Findings suggest a need for cultural competence in psychological interventions for breast cancer survivors.