Psychological impacts of mastectomy: An analysis in the Associação de Apoio a Pessoa com Câncer

• Autor(a) principal: Almeida, Irlândia Oliveira
• Data de Publicação: 2023
• Outros Autores: Ribeiro, Mariana Rios, Santos, Marcus Vinicius Dantas dos, Azevedo, Caroline Almeida de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista Baiana de Saúde Pública (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://rbsp.sesab.ba.gov.br/index.php/rbsp/article/view/3634
• topic: Câncer de mama; Mastectomia; Psicologia; Cáncer de mama; Mastectomía; Psicología; Breast cancer; Mastectomy; Psychology

Breast cancer has the highest incidence in women in Brazil. Mastectomy is one of the treatment possibilities but with repercussions on the physical and psychological health of the woman. This research aimed to describe the main impacts of mastectomy in women welcomed at the Cancer Support Association (AAPC) in Bahia. This is a qualitative, descriptive study carried out with ten women between 32 and 63 years old, who underwent mastectomy and who attended the association. An individual semi-structured interview was carried out, and the data were analyzed by using Bardin’s content analysis technique. After analysis, three categories were extracted: (1) feelings about the diagnosis and treatment of the neoplasm; (2) symbolic mourning and impacts on mastectomy women’s self-esteem; and (3) coping strategies in face of mastectomy. The feelings identified were sadness, fear, despair, acceptance, faith, and hope. Symbolic mourning and impact on self-esteem due to mastectomy and hair loss were experienced. The strategies for coping with illness were the strengthening of support networks, spirituality, giving meaning to the process with volunteer work and the support from the health team. In conclusion, the psychological impacts of illness and treatment are many, and psychological support is a potential care.