Variables Affecting Patient Satisfaction in Breast Surgery: A Cross-Sectional Sample of Turkish Women with Breast Cancer

Abstract

Early stage breast cancer is a chronic disease and patients have to live with the consequences of their decision for many years. At the same time, the type of surgery is decided on when patients are in an acute phase and under intense pressure. Therefore, the decision making process needs to be explored more, especially breast cancer patients with less education and low income need better assistance and more detailed explanation of their options.

Socio-demographic, clinical, and health-related factors associated with breast reconstruction – A nationwide cohort study

“…We also found no indication that marital status influenced the choice of reconstruction. This result is in line with the findings in a substantial number of other studies [2,5,6,26,38,41], although a higher rate of reconstruction among married women has been reported [30,42].…”

“…It should here be noted that the reconstructive options offered were similar across the country. Previous results concerning associations with radiotherapy are mixed, with some being in line with our result [25,26], and others indicating no association [6,42]. It should be noted that both indications for radiotherapy as part of treatment and guidelines for reconstruction before or after radiotherapy may vary from country to country.…”

Comparison of Arab breast cancer survivors and healthy controls for spousal relationship, body image, and emotional distress

“…They also tend to perceive breast cancer as a threat to the woman's role as wife and mother, and a cancer diagnosis as presaging her husband's abandoning her [14,22]. Body image was found to be lower among Egyptian cancer patients compared to healthy women, and especially lower among the patients who had undergone mastectomy [23], while in a study of Turkish women body image of breast cancer patients was not different from that of healthy women [19]. Also, in a qualitative Iranian study, most of the breast cancer patients asserted that they were not concerned with their body image [24].…”

“…However, the body image 9 group interaction had a significant impact on emotional distress. The explanation may be that while body image might have a less dominant role in emotional wellbeing in traditional societies than in Western societies [30], its distortion due to surgery and other treatments of cancer does have an impact on well-being [19]. An alternative explanation may be that while low body image alone does not significantly affect a person's psychological distress, its combination with the experience of breast cancer will make that person more distressed than someone with breast cancer who does not have a poor body image.…”

“…Similarly, Arab society still stresses values of modesty in women and does not highly value physical appearance [19], although modern perceptions of body image are beginning to penetrate [20,21].…”