Body image and Hope in Women with Breast Cancer

Purpose: The breast cancer is the most commen type of cancer in women. . It affects women s self-concept , body image and hope that have caused inappropriate psychological effects. Breast cancer affects women s selfconcept and body image and hope toward future that have caused inappropriate psychological effects. The purpose of this research was to interpret the body image and hope in women with breast cancer. Methods: 20 women, all of them suffer from breast cancer and are the patients of a medical center in Tehran in 2013, were chosen by purposive sampling. They were interviewed individually based on a semi– structured questionnaire. Data analysis was done based on the method of phenomenology and coding the transcripts of the interviews. Results: The results of the analysis were divided into two parts including: body image of these women and hope of these women toward future. These womens body image was including and change in the symbol of femininity, change in appearance , femininity and women with breast cancer, reluctance or acceptance of changed body, see wounds: inconvenient or accepted, changing in wearing cloth of patient after surgery, sexual behavior of woman after surgery: change or no change. hope of these women toward future which includes hope toward future and new decisions and goals. Discussion: Based on the findings the body image of all the patients has changed but coping styles are different in every woman. It is necessary to indicate that these changes, in women removed the entire breast, are severer than the women who removed a part of the breast. Most of these women are: hopeless, agency thinking is weak in them, and don’t have motivation for targeting and recognizing pathways to gain goals.

Keywords:

body image , hope , breast cancer