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The experience of cognitive change in women with breast cancer following chemotherapy

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Journal of Cancer Survivorship Aims and scope Submit manuscript

An Erratum to this article was published on 20 November 2014

Abstract

Purpose

Change in cognitive function is one side effect of chemotherapy reported in some breast cancer survivors sometimes years after treatment. These symptoms include subtle changes in memory, concentration, and executive functioning. The purpose of this study was to uncover the meaning of cognitive change in women with breast cancer, how symptoms are experienced and become evident, how symptoms impact roles in personal and professional lives, and how women cope with these changes.

Methods

An interpretive phenomenological study was conducted with seven women with breast cancer, between the ages of 42–59, who had completed standard chemotherapy treatment within the past 12 months. Participants completed two in-depth semistructured interviews 1 month apart and maintained a written journal.

Results

van Manen’s framework for interpretive phenomenology revealed five essential themes: noticing the difference, experiencing cognitive changes, interacting socially, coping, and looking forward. Analysis also includes a description of the phenomenon in relation to the lifeworld existentials of lived space, lived body, lived time, and lived human relation.

Conclusions

The experience of cognitive change could not be isolated or studied separately from the context of the women’s reality of having breast cancer.

Implications for Cancer Survivors

This study provides clarity related to the impact of cognitive change and how women cope with these changes in relation to their daily roles and responsibilities. Information is provided that elucidates the effect on employment issues that can influence financial and social well-being of women who are breast cancer survivors living with chemotherapy-related cognitive changes.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge Judith E. Hupcey, EdD and Lisa Kitko, PhD for their assistance in data analysis and thematic identification, Margaret Cushman, PhD for her expertise in the subject area, and Elizabeth Tisdell, EdD for her qualitative research expertise. This research was partially supported by a clinical research award from the Nursing Foundation of Pennsylvania.

Conflict of interest

Mary Louise Kanaskie and Susan J. Loeb declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics statement

All procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients being included in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nursing Education and Professional Development, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, 17033, USA

    Mary Louise Kanaskie

  2. College of Nursing, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    Susan J. Loeb

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  1. Mary Louise Kanaskie
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  2. Susan J. Loeb
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Correspondence to Mary Louise Kanaskie.

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Kanaskie, M.L., Loeb, S.J. The experience of cognitive change in women with breast cancer following chemotherapy. J Cancer Surviv 9, 375–387 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-014-0387-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11764-014-0387-x

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