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Cancer as biographical disruption: constructions of living with cancer

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Abstract

Purpose

From a cancer survivor perspective, the purpose of this paper is to explore what has changed in their lives that they attribute to the disease. The rationale for the study is that evidence of the extent to which cancer disrupts people’s lives in the longer term is contradictory.

Methods

Written accounts from 40 cancer survivors were analysed using interpretative methods. The researchers drew on the concept of biographical disruption as a framework for analysis.

Results

Cancer survivors construct cancer as a biographically disruptive event with ongoing physical and psychosocial impacts. Cancer is constructed as a permanent threat to life which is responsible for increasing their awareness of their own mortality and invoking positive changes to self. These formulations of living with cancer were found across a range of participants, including those who defined themselves as currently free of cancer, those who had recurrence, those who had been diagnosed 5 years ago and those who had been free of cancer for a long time.

Conclusions

This study adds to the body of literature exploring how to enhance supportive care for cancer survivors by reflecting on biographical disruption and continuity, and the complexities within individual constructions of changes in life that they attribute to cancer. Cancer survivors should be given opportunities to articulate the impact of cancer, thus giving legitimate space to talk about cancer’s ongoing resonance on life so that problems and difficulties are not dismissed or trivialised.

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Acknowledgements

Macmillan Cancer Support funded the study. Special thanks are given to the cancer survivors who provided their written accounts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Care Research Centre, Department of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Stirling, Stirling, FK9 4LA, UK

    Gill Hubbard & Liz Forbat

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  1. Gill Hubbard
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  2. Liz Forbat
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Correspondence to Gill Hubbard.

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Hubbard, G., Forbat, L. Cancer as biographical disruption: constructions of living with cancer. Support Care Cancer 20, 2033–2040 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-011-1311-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-011-1311-9

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