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“You Can’t Influence Illness, But You Can Influence Everything Else”: Women’s Diverse Experiences of Important Resilience Aspects in the Context of Breast Cancer

Velickovic, Katarina LU ; Johnsson, Per LU ; Månsson, Johanna LU and Lundberg, Tove LU orcid (2024) In SAGE Open 14(4). p.1-16
Abstract
Resilience comprises positive adaptation to stress and has been extensively studied in the context of breast cancer. Nevertheless, specific experiences of breast cancer survivors in relation to resilience are unknown. The aim of this study was to explore the diverse experiences of important resilience aspects in breast cancer survivors. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 25 breast cancer survivors residing in Sweden. We used thematic analysis to analyze the data. We identified three themes relevant for resilience, each containing several subthemes: “I will try to keep the spirits up”: Struggling with agency in the face of uncontrollability, “You know that you are not alone”: Social support and collective survivorship for better... (More)
Resilience comprises positive adaptation to stress and has been extensively studied in the context of breast cancer. Nevertheless, specific experiences of breast cancer survivors in relation to resilience are unknown. The aim of this study was to explore the diverse experiences of important resilience aspects in breast cancer survivors. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 25 breast cancer survivors residing in Sweden. We used thematic analysis to analyze the data. We identified three themes relevant for resilience, each containing several subthemes: “I will try to keep the spirits up”: Struggling with agency in the face of uncontrollability, “You know that you are not alone”: Social support and collective survivorship for better and for worse, and “I try to leave that behind me”: Conceptualizing cancer as a closed chapter or a constant. Thus, having agency in relation to one’s thoughts, feelings, treatment, health, and daily functioning, having support from others, and conceptualizing breast cancer as a closed chapter were interpreted as important aspects of resilience. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
resilience, breast cancer, reflexive thematic analysis
in
SAGE Open
volume
14
issue
4
pages
16 pages
publisher
SAGE Publications
external identifiers
  • scopus:85207206151
ISSN
2158-2440
DOI
10.1177/21582440241292710
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
aa2d6863-e8de-4e59-a6f0-abb59871d7ef
date added to LUP
2024-10-23 15:29:15
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:21:04
@article{aa2d6863-e8de-4e59-a6f0-abb59871d7ef,
  abstract     = {{Resilience comprises positive adaptation to stress and has been extensively studied in the context of breast cancer. Nevertheless, specific experiences of breast cancer survivors in relation to resilience are unknown. The aim of this study was to explore the diverse experiences of important resilience aspects in breast cancer survivors. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 25 breast cancer survivors residing in Sweden. We used thematic analysis to analyze the data. We identified three themes relevant for resilience, each containing several subthemes: “I will try to keep the spirits up”: Struggling with agency in the face of uncontrollability, “You know that you are not alone”: Social support and collective survivorship for better and for worse, and “I try to leave that behind me”: Conceptualizing cancer as a closed chapter or a constant. Thus, having agency in relation to one’s thoughts, feelings, treatment, health, and daily functioning, having support from others, and conceptualizing breast cancer as a closed chapter were interpreted as important aspects of resilience.}},
  author       = {{Velickovic, Katarina and Johnsson, Per and Månsson, Johanna and Lundberg, Tove}},
  issn         = {{2158-2440}},
  keywords     = {{resilience; breast cancer; reflexive thematic analysis}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{1--16}},
  publisher    = {{SAGE Publications}},
  series       = {{SAGE Open}},
  title        = {{“You Can’t Influence Illness, But You Can Influence Everything Else”: Women’s Diverse Experiences of Important Resilience Aspects in the Context of Breast Cancer}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/21582440241292710}},
  doi          = {{10.1177/21582440241292710}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}