From Love and Fidelity to Infidelity- Individual Experiences of Women with Breast Cancer Regarding Relationships with Their Spouses

Abstract

<br /> <strong><span style="font-size: small;">Background and Objective: </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Breast cancer and its treatment processes not only involve the patients but also their spouses and can impact on mutual relationships. Spouses of women with breast cancer may experience devastating consequences of the disease in their marital and sexual relationships. Therefore, in the present study we aimed to investigate individual experiences of women with breast cancer in their relationships with their spouses. </span></span><strong><span style="font-size: small;">Materials and Methods: </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">This was a qualitative study with a conventional approach to content analysis. A purposive sampling method was used to select 12 patients with breast cancer visiting the Chemotherapy Clinic in Zabol in 2016. Semi-structured interviews were employed for data collection. Data trustworthiness was checked and data were analyzed based on the steps proposed by Graneheim and Lundman. Ethical issues were considered. </span></span><strong><span style="font-size: small;">Results: </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Three main categories and ten sub-categories were extracted. The three main categories were surrounded by misery, from emotional to practical </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">companionship and influencebeing imposed upon someone else. </span></span><strong><span style="font-size: small;">Conclusion: </span></strong><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">The findings showed paradoxical experiences of the women under study ranging from love and fidelity to infidelity. This indicates that some spouses </span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman,Times New Roman; font-size: small;">do not adequately support for their sick wives. Therefore, health professionals should provide support, guidance and training for couples, including sex therapy and counseling services, so that spouses can better support their wives. </span></span>