Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

‘Sometimes I can't look in the mirror’: Recognising the importance of the sociocultural context in patient experiences of sexuality, relationships and body image after ovarian cancer

‘Sometimes I can't look in the mirror’: Recognising the importance of the sociocultural context... INTRODUCTIONIn 2021, an estimated 1720 Australians will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer (OC), a disease with a 5‐year survival rate of 48% (Cancer Australia, 2021). Lower survival rates are linked to diagnoses occurring at advanced stages due to asymptomatic or nonspecific symptoms (Boban et al., 2021). While the physical sequelae of OC are well researched, less is known about psychosocial and emotional well‐being following diagnosis and treatment (Kim et al., 2015).One of the major impacts OC can have is a change to sexual functioning and sexuality which has been proven to be an integral contributor to well‐being and overall quality of life (QoL) (Roussin et al., 2021; Whicker et al., 2017). Kim et al. (2015) suggest that sexuality is a multidimensional construct which involves social, physical and psychological aspects. Despite the importance and impact of sexual functioning in QoL, the related side effects from cancer treatments are rarely discussed by healthcare professionals. This can lead to inconsistencies in psychosexual support which can reduce emotional intimacy and feelings of sexual normalcy within relationships (Kim et al., 2015; Perndorfer et al., 2019; Pitcher et al., 2020).Gynaecological cancer treatment outcomes can also result in changes to body image (Bajpai & Shylasree, 2018; Teo et al., 2018) as well as femininity and womanhood (Dryden http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png European Journal of Cancer Care Wiley

‘Sometimes I can't look in the mirror’: Recognising the importance of the sociocultural context in patient experiences of sexuality, relationships and body image after ovarian cancer

Loading next page...
 
/lp/wiley/sometimes-i-can-t-look-in-the-mirror-recognising-the-importance-of-the-y6g9ohwo0O

References (37)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
ISSN
0961-5423
eISSN
1365-2354
DOI
10.1111/ecc.13645
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONIn 2021, an estimated 1720 Australians will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer (OC), a disease with a 5‐year survival rate of 48% (Cancer Australia, 2021). Lower survival rates are linked to diagnoses occurring at advanced stages due to asymptomatic or nonspecific symptoms (Boban et al., 2021). While the physical sequelae of OC are well researched, less is known about psychosocial and emotional well‐being following diagnosis and treatment (Kim et al., 2015).One of the major impacts OC can have is a change to sexual functioning and sexuality which has been proven to be an integral contributor to well‐being and overall quality of life (QoL) (Roussin et al., 2021; Whicker et al., 2017). Kim et al. (2015) suggest that sexuality is a multidimensional construct which involves social, physical and psychological aspects. Despite the importance and impact of sexual functioning in QoL, the related side effects from cancer treatments are rarely discussed by healthcare professionals. This can lead to inconsistencies in psychosexual support which can reduce emotional intimacy and feelings of sexual normalcy within relationships (Kim et al., 2015; Perndorfer et al., 2019; Pitcher et al., 2020).Gynaecological cancer treatment outcomes can also result in changes to body image (Bajpai & Shylasree, 2018; Teo et al., 2018) as well as femininity and womanhood (Dryden

Journal

European Journal of Cancer CareWiley

Published: Nov 1, 2022

Keywords: body image; emotional; ovarian cancer; psychological; quality of life; social

There are no references for this article.