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A qualitative study of decision-making by breast cancer patients about telling their children about their illness

Supportive Care in Cancer volume 18, pages 439–447 (2010)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective

Many breast cancer patients are troubled about telling their school-age children about their illness. However, little attention has been paid to the factors that encourage or discourage them from revealing the illness. This study explored decision-making by breast cancer patients about telling their children about their illness.

Methods

Participants were 30 breast cancer patients recruited from a regional cancer institution in Japan. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and content analysis was performed.

Results

Six preparatory stages of decision-making by Japanese breast cancer patients about telling their children about their illness were identified as follows: contemplation, preparation, action-hospitalization and surgery, action-adjuvant therapy, action-diagnosis, and action-prognosis. We also identified 11 categories of positive aspects and ten categories of negative aspects about revealing their illness to children. The categories of negative aspects with higher frequency were similar to those found by previous research, but categories of positive aspects were unique. The rate of reference to negative aspects in total reduces gradually as the preparatory stage advances, and in action-diagnosis and action-prognosis stages the balance between positive and negative aspects becomes about half and half.

Conclusions

Patients, especially in action-hospitalization and surgery, can be expected to tell their children about their illness although they find negative aspects much more compelling than positive aspects and experience great distress. These patients have special needs for support from others.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a Grant-in-aid for Hospice and Palliative Care from Sasakawa Health Science Foundation and partly by a Grant-in-aid for Scientific Research (no. 19730430). We would like to thank Shinji Ohno, Yoshiaaki Nakamura, Hiroshi Yamaguchi, Yoko Uchida, Mayumi Ishida, Yoko Hata, and Akemi Kataoka for assistance.

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Education, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Saran Yoshida

  2. Department of Hospice, Seirei Mikatahara General Hospital, 3453 Mikatahara-cho, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, 433-8558, Japan

    Hiroyuki Otani

  3. Center for the Study of Communication Design, Graduate School of Human Sciences & Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, 1-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan

    Kei Hirai

  4. Faculty of Education and Culture, University of Miyazaki, 1-1 Gakuen, Kibanadai, Nishi, Miyazaki, 889-2192, Japan

    Akiko Ogata

  5. Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Asuka Mera & Shiho Okada

  6. Department of Psycho-Oncology, National Kyushu Cancer Center, 3-1-1 Notame, Minami-ku, Fukuoka, 811-1395, Japan

    Akira Oshima

Authors
  1. Saran Yoshida
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  2. Hiroyuki Otani
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  3. Kei Hirai
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  4. Akiko Ogata
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  5. Asuka Mera
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  6. Shiho Okada
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  7. Akira Oshima
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Correspondence to Saran Yoshida.

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Yoshida, S., Otani, H., Hirai, K. et al. A qualitative study of decision-making by breast cancer patients about telling their children about their illness. Support Care Cancer 18, 439–447 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-009-0682-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-009-0682-7

Keywords

  • Breast cancer
  • Communication
  • Children
  • Illness