Men’s experience of their partners’ breast cancer diagnosis, breast surgery and oncological treatment

Abstract

Aims and objectives To investigate the experiences of male partners of female breast cancer patients who had undergone surgery and oncological treatment and who were still raising children. Background Research on the psychological effects of breast cancer has focused primarily on the patients undergoing treatment, neglecting the effect of such a condition on their closest family members. This study addresses this gap by focusing on understanding the effects of this disease on male partners of these patients. Design An interpretative phenomenological approach was used. Methods Eight males whose female partners were diagnosed with primary breast cancer between the ages of 30 and 55 and who had young children still living at home at the time were interviewed by the first author of this article. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed using an interpretative phenomenological framework, in accordance with the guidelines in the COREQ checklist for qualitative studies. Results Participants emphasized the difficulties they faced in trying to juggle work and family responsibilities while offering support to their partners, a task they felt ill‐prepared for. At times, they felt excluded by their partners and worried about the impact of the disease on their children. A common fear was that of recurrence of the disease, and while some discussed the financial difficulties associated with treating the disease, others saw it as enhancing the potential for their personal and couple growth. Conclusions This study adds to the topic by uncovering the perspectives of male partners of breast cancer patients and the effects of their partner’s condition on them and their families. Relevance to clinical practice The results of this study can be used to inform policy when providing holistic care. They also highlight the importance of counselling and support interventions for partners of breast cancer patients.

The Lived Experiences of the Partners of Breast Cancer Survivors: Psychosocial Difficulties and Changes

“…In additionally, partners have difficulties maintaining their emotional well-being because of caregiving. Likewise, attention is drawn to the individual and mutual difficulties of the partners in the literature (6,7,20,22,27). In this study, similarly to the literature, body image and sexual matters were defined as a taboo, which couldn't be shared with the partners and the health professionals (6).…”

“…Partners talked about the individual difficulties caused by caregiving as well. Similarly, partners had difficulties in managing their own health and well-being (20,22,28). In the literature, attention is drawn to the burden of caregiving experienced by the husbands, and the caregiver burden is stated as the predictor of the psychological distress among husbands after breast cancer (18).…”

“…In addition, partners both have difficulty in managing the survivor's fear of recurrence and try to cope with this fear on his own. Fear of recurrence is a dyadic difficulty (20,29). For feeling guilty, it is important to explain the perceptions of the partners about the causes of cancer and to provide them with the appropriate consultancy.…”

“…In an another study in which spouses' support strategies for patients were explained, husbands stated that they maintained their family caregiver role even after treatment, focused on their wives' needs and helped them to adapt to family and social life (19). The male partners can feel excluded by the female partner after breast cancer surgery, and experience difficulties related to caregiving and providing emotional support to partner, financial and work related difficulties, worries about the effects of the cancer on their children, fear of cancer recurrence and anxiety (20). Similarly, in the study, male partners stated that emotional difficulties, changes in responsibilities the household chores and work life, worries about caring to children, and changes in relationship with their partner as impact of breast cancer (21).…”

“…A systematic review study showed that the male spouses experienced negative changes in the area of emotional, financial and family life in the breast cancer treatment period (22). Besides drawing attention to the difficulties undergone by the partners, it is also stated that partners experienced positive changes such as the strengthening of the relationship, spiritual development and personal growth after breast cancer (16,19,20,21,22).…”