Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
Occupational biographies were examined using interpretive
phenomenological analysis. Following deep immersion in the data,
recurrent themes were identified and categorised into broader
interpretive groupings, reflecting participant experiences. This
method explores in detail the participant’s perspective of the topic.
It is concerned with the individual’s personal, subjective, lived
account of the phenomenon, seeking out the uniqueness of each
story.
SUMMARY OF KEY FINDINGS
Stories reveal deep personal struggle in adjusting to living with
breast cancer. Lifestyle disruption was found to exert secondary
distress in curtailing expression of ‘normal’ self. Many issues were
not raised in the health care setting, resulting in lost opportunities
for health care providers to provide support. Themes include:
NOT DOING = NOT NORMAL
Inability to perform usual activities resulted in a deep sense of loss
of ‘old self’ and a strong sense of present life not being ‘normal’.
The women interpreted themselves as ‘sick’ when unable to perform
habitual activities, particularly ADL tasks.
OCCUPATIONAL RUPTURE
Life-threatening illness imposes an occupational rupture where
functional capacities and the valued familiar activities that are the
essential signature of the self are compromised. As indicated by the
use of the word ‘rupture’ this is a sudden tearing of the fabric of
normal life where occupational expression is radically and abruptly
changed. All participants described this phenomenon.
FRUSTRATION AT IMPOSITION OF CANCER CALENDAR
Many expressed frustration with the time and energy consuming
practice of attending appointments. Some stated that they missed
the comfort of previous routines or that these demands impeded
development of new lifestyle patterns.
IMPAIRED SENSE OF AGENCY
Many narratives revealed an externalisation of locus of control
where women felt a reduced sense of power and control over how
they chose to express themselves through their ‘doing’ in the
everyday.
NARRATIVE SUSPENSE
All stories contained a ‘narrative suspense’ where the emergent life
story had become stagnated. This disruption left the women feeling
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