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“Not a nice experience, not at all”: Underprivileged women's experiences of being confronted with cervical cancer

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2014

Johanna E. Maree ,
Gayle Langley  and
Lucy Nqubezelo
Johanna E. Maree*
Affiliation:
Department of Nursing Education, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa
Gayle Langley
Affiliation:
Department of Nursing Education, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa
Lucy Nqubezelo
Affiliation:
Department of Nursing Education, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital, Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Johanna E. Maree, Department of Nursing Education, University of the Witwatersrand, 7 York Road, Parktown 2193, Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa. E-mail: [email protected].
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Abstract

Objective:

Research on women's experiences of cervical cancer as a health problem focuses primarily on cervical screening, while their experiences of cervical cancer as a disease seem to be underresearched. This study addresses this understudied area and aims to yield insight into the experiences of underprivileged women confronted with this disease.

Method:

Our study was qualitative, exploratory, and contextual with descriptive and interpretive elements. The context of the study was a radiation oncology department at an academic hospital in the Gauteng Province of South Africa. The target population was all patients diagnosed with cervical cancer referred for treatment at the specific hospital. Convenience sampling selected participants typical of the population. Nineteen open-ended unstructured interviews were conducted after demographic data were collected. One question was posed: “Please tell me what made you think there was something wrong with you?” Thematic analyses were used to analyze the data.

Results:

The average age of participants was 47.2 years, with a youngest participant of 29 and oldest of 70. Three themes arose from the data: experiencing the symptoms of cervical cancer, hearing the bad news, and what remained unsaid.

Significance of Results:

Being confronted with cervical cancer is a traumatic experience. Women suffer unexplained, severe, humiliating vaginal bleeding and unrelieved pain. They have to face a dual healthcare system: on the one hand, unaffordable effective private healthcare and, on the other, the free-of-cost public healthcare that failed them. The bad news of their cervical cancer is most commonly broken in a kind and sympathetic manner, yet misunderstandings and a need for additional information prevail after the bad news conversation. Having to inform their families of their cancer adds to their suffering.

Keywords

Cervical cancerSouth Africaexperiencesunderprivileged women
Type
Original Articles
Information
Palliative & Supportive Care , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , April 2015 , pp. 239 - 247
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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