Suchergebnisse

"As both the percentage and overall number of people aged 65 and over continue to grow, so does the need for a workforce equipped to serve the diverse interests, concerns, abilities, and backgrounds of older adults. This includes not only areas traditionally associated with aging such as health and human services, but professions across the spectrum from travel and tourism to business, finance, public policy and beyond. Today, there is not a field or profession that does not intersect in some way with aging and older adults"--

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women (American Cancer Society [ACS], 2016b). Adolescents and young adults (AYAs) as a group have a worse prognosis when compared to older adults (e.g., Tichy, Lim, & Anders, 2013). Due to limited understanding of the biology of cancers for AYAs, inadequate representation of AYAs in clinical trials, and AYAs' unique psychosocial healthcare needs, the prognosis for this group, as compared to older women, is comparatively poor. One step in addressing the survival gap for AYAs is to explore the developmental and psychosocial factors that shape their illness experiences. This qualitative study explored the illness experiences of women diagnosed with breast cancer between the ages of 18 and 39 years old. Using a phenomenological approach, 23 breast cancer survivors were interviewed using a semi-structured interview. Findings indicated the centrality of developmental, sociocultural, and psychosocial systems in shaping women's health care experiences. Future studies should explore the ways in which medical providers attend to these systems across the breast cancer trajectory.