Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences - Theses

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Author: Gemmell, Kerry Patricia × End date: 2012 × Start date: 2012 × Type: PhD thesis × Subject: resilience ×

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    Experiences of ovarian cancer in older women
    Gemmell, Kerry Patricia ( 2012)
    The aim of this study was to explore the lived experience of older women with ovarian cancer. It aimed to illuminate how women make sense of an ovarian cancer diagnosis in older age by a) investigating the psychosocial challenges of living with ovarian cancer and b) investigating inner strength factors which have helped or hindered a sense of well-being or resilience for these women. Ovarian cancer is predominantly a disease of older women, and the incidence of ovarian cancer is rising due to the ageing population. The limited primary research that has been conducted focusing on the psychosocial impact of ovarian cancer has highlighted the multi-dimensional nature of women’s experiences of living with cancer. The majority of the current literature includes women of all ages. Older cancer survivors are seldom the focus of research and have been considered the ‘silent population’, as little research has given voice to their experiences. Yet it is important to understand their experiences to identify how older cancer survivors access their various sources of strength to enable them to attain well-being, despite the losses and changes they confront This study used in-depth unstructured interviews to gives voice to the lived experience of nine older women (65+ years) with ovarian cancer. A qualitative, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) research approach enabled the exploration of the women’s’ experiences from a phenomenological perspective, through presenting the 18 essential themes in their experiences. Using the Model of Inner Strength (Roux, Dingley, Lewis & Grubbs, 2004) framework the key findings extended the current thinking about older women’s experiences of ovarian cancer and indicated that the women draw on the dimensions of inner strength, insight, engagement, participation and connectedness, to make ‘sense’ of their experiences and to balance the negative and positive psychosocial effects of the diagnosis, treatment and treatment side effects. The women’s perception of inner strength enabled them to adapt and compensate in order to optimally function and participate in all aspects of life (physical, emotional, social and spiritual). The women’s attitude was to see possibilities in their lives and to fully engage and participate in social, creative and physical activates. The Model of Inner Strength proposes women’s inner strength is impacted by cancer treatment, physical changes with ageing, challenges to quality of life and symptom clusters of distress. Along with these factors for older women with ovarian cancer, cancer symptoms, ageism, concurrent distress, concurrent medical conditions and end of life concerns were also found to be important. Although, the Model of Inner Strength provides a framework for understanding the experiences of cancer in older, the findings suggests a purely IPA study would allow the cultural, social, and individual factors to be further illuminated.