Fears in breast cancer: Types, influences and manifestations

• Main Author: Chavez, Maria Victoria G.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2009
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/3740
• Institution: De La Salle University

Fear in breast cancer is a real phenomenon but the experience is not well investigated. There are researches about fear as an emotion yet there is hardly any study situating fear in the context of health/illness particularly cancer. Thus, this study's objective is to describe the different fear experiences of selected women with breast cancer in Cebu City. The study is qualitative in nature utilizing key informant interviews to look into the different types of fear aroused in women cancer patients, the factors influencing fear, and the manifestations of fear. The findings of the study have revealed that there are two general types of fear in breast cancer: fear of death and fear of pain or suffering. However, these fears are described by some women not explicitly but through the use of fear related associations. Three factors have been reported to influence fear arousal personal, familial, and medical. There are also different ways by which fears are manifested. These manifestations are psychological, physiological, emotional, attitudinal, and social. In general, the study findings proved that fear is very much active in the women's cancer experience starting at symptoms discovery and lasting even way after chemotherapy. The women's fears are not static. It fluctuates depending on which stage of the cancer experience the woman is. At closer examination, certain variables have emerged making each cancer experience unique for every woman. These variables are age, civil status, having children or no children, and educational attainment.