"Women's experiences of head and neck cancer: an interpretative phenomenological analysis".

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

Head and neck cancers (HNCs) are predominantly studied in men. This study aimed to explore women's experiences of HNC.

Methods

The study was based on the secondary analysis of interviews conducted by using the life story methodology with patients who underwent surgery for HNC. We selected seven particularly rich interviews regarding the experience of cancer and first conducted a thematic analysis to identify key patterns in the data. We then applied interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to explore in depth how participants made sense of their experiences.

Results

Key themes were identified across different phases of the illness journey, including diagnosis, treatment, post-treatment, recurrence, and future projection. A major challenge was diagnostic

SUBMITTER: Vandamme C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11951551 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature