The lived experiences of initimate partner violence in women with breast cancer: A hermeneutic phenomenological study

Abstract

Abstract: Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Due to the progress of diagnostic and treatment procedures, the number of women survived from breast cancer is quite high. Having a diagnosis of breast cancer makes women more vulnerable to all kinds of violence, including partner violence. The statistics of partner violence are high in societies and on average one woman out of three faces it. Given that partner violence has many negative consequences in the course of diagnosis, treatment, recovery, and survival of women with breast cancer, this qualitative study was conducted to investigate the lived experiences of women with cancer concerning the phenomenon of partner violence. Methodology: The current research was conducted with the hermeneutic phenomenological approach. The method of selecting participants was based on purposive samplingho were subjected to partner violence. The location of the interviews was Shahid Ghazi Tabatabai clinic, the doctor's office, the patient's home, or any other place that the participants preferred. The study was conducted according to the six steps proposed by Van Manen's approach. MAXQDA 10 software was used for data management and the thematic analysis method was used for data analysis. Findings: From the analysis of participants' interviews, 4 main themes and 16 sub-themes were extracted: blaming as a shifting cognitive judgmen (patient blaming partner, partner blaming patient, self-blame), coldness of cohabitation (forced to continue cohabitation, living independently under the mask of cohabitation, Enduring life by relying on support resources), continuous sinus violence (violence during treatment, violence during recovery, Frequency of violence), pervasive violence (physical violence, sexual violence, psychological violence, economic violence, controlling behaviors, neglect). Conclusion: According to research findings, women who are victims of partner violence become more vulnerable to violence after breast cancer. The lived experiences of the participants showed that after the onset of cancer, from the early stages of diagnosis to the active treatment and the period of remission of the disease, partner violence with different types and intensity exists continuously and never stops completely. However, women are forced to continue living together for reasons such as the existence of children or economic dependence on their partners. Considering the mutual effect of partner violence and breast cancer, in addition to the fact that it is necessary to perform partner violence screening by service providers in oncology treatment and care centers, among healthy women who refer to treatment and care centers due to partner violence, women's cancer screenings should be performed by community health care providers. The next steps in this process should include more emphasis on cross-cultural research on how to use positive cultural elements to create culture change and reduce violence in diverse societies. Although the findings showed that partner violence exists in all its dimensions and in all stages of diagnosis and treatment of women with breast cancer, nevertheless, this study aims to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the generality and nature of intimate partner violence in women with breast cancer. It is not enough and more studies are needed.