Living with the late effects of cervical cancer treatment: a descriptive qualitative study at an academic hospital in Gauteng

Abstract

AbstractObjective: The late effects of cervical cancer and its treatment are well known. However, qualitative research describing how women experience these effects seems to be unavailable. The purpose of our study was to describe how women experienced the late effects of cervical cancer treatment.Design: A qualitative descriptive design was used.Subjects and setting: Purposive sampling was employed to select the participants treated at an academic hospital in Gauteng. Sixteen in-depth interviews were conducted. Data saturation determined the sample size. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.Results: The average age of the sample was 44.1 years, and half of the participants had stage IIB cancer. Most were treated with external beam radiation in combination with brachytherapy. Five themes arose from the data, namely experiencing the physical consequences of the treatment, struggling with the socio-economic implications of the treatment, living with the sexual consequences of the treatment, spirit...