Psychological and physical effects of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment on young Ghanaian women: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Young women diagnosed with breast cancer face challenges that interfere with their entire life with psychological and physical effects. METHOD: We employed a qualitative exploratory descriptive design, and recruited twelve participants through purposive and snowball sampling methods to conduct 12 face to face individual interviews. A reputable review board in Ghana; Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, gave ethical clearance for data collection. Data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using thematic content analysis. RESULTS: Three themes emerged from the data; physical effects of breast cancer, effects of treatment on body image, and emotional effects of breast cancer diagnosis and treatment. The negative effects of treatment incapacitated most of the women and limited their activities of daily living. Some experienced severe bodily weakness and stayed indoors for days. Most participants felt they looked unattractive because they have had a mastectomy done, and used pieces of rags and handkerchiefs as breast prostheses. Those who had hair loss through chemotherapy used different kinds of wigs to cover their baldness. Almost all the participants cried, felt depressed, and became emotionally unstable when they were told their diagnosis. Some denied their diagnoses and displaced their anger on healthcare personnel. A few of them felt they had brought disgrace to their families because breast cancer is perceived, a disgraceful disease. CONCLUSION: Young women diagnosed with breast cancer require psychological interventions and physical support from healthcare personnel and their families.