Writing the breast cancer journey : illness narratives from an Internet forum

Abstract

This thesis is a qualitative, exploratory study of the experience of living with breast cancer, using narrative type posts to a breast cancer e-mail list. A narrative analysis methodology was used to examine these women's accounts. Through their personal writing, salient themes about living with breast cancer at different phases of the illness trajectory emerged. These include decisions about adjuvant cancer treatment, living with uncertainty, disruption of daily life and long term plans, loss of self, and realization of mortality. These narrative accounts are informed by three perspectives on breast cancer; the media and public discourse, the medical perspective, and psychosocial adjustment.