Young Women’s Experiences With Complementary Therapies During Cancer Described Through Illness Blogs

Abstract

Many young women with cancer have a high symptom burden and negative psychosocial consequences as a result of their disease. To offset some of these experiences, a growing number of young women with cancer are writing about their experience with complementary therapies through online illness blogs. The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine descriptions of complementary therapy use among young women (diagnosed between 20 and 39 years of age) who maintained an online cancer blog. Women’s narratives describe several themes of the experience of using complementary therapies including awakening, new identities (that incorporate loss), the good stuff, and release. Online illness blogs allow researchers to understand the complete experience of the patient through personal accounts and substantially contributes to the body of knowledge surrounding cancer in young adulthood and complementary therapy use.