Psychsocial issues resulting from the experience of breast cancer among women in northern Victoria

Abstract

One in 12 Australian women will experience breast cancer. While the focus on physical and clinical issues has improved clinical care, less attention has been given to the psychosocial issues associated with a breast cancer diagnosis. The experience of breast cancer is emotional as much as it is a physical illness. This paper is one effort to address the dearth of literature analysing the psychosocial impacts of breast cancer. Questionnaires were distributed by health professionals to women in the Hume Health region in northern Victoria who had been treated for breast cancer between 1996 and 2001. A total of 219 were returned (an estimated third of this population). Women were generally happy with clinical services but indicated that emotional issues were at the fore, and more psychosocial support services are needed in this region. Further, women identified that the social and psychological issues resulting from a breast cancer diagnosis are life-changing and long-term, and that this is not well understood by health care providers or local communities.