Psychological Aspects of Breast Reconstruction Following Mastectomy

Abstract

In order to analyse the experiences of women after breast reconstruction and to find variables influencing these experiences, 45 women were studied with quantitative methods and 14 with deep interviews, one to four years after breast reconstruction. By factor analysis, five dimensions of experiences were identified. With a more or less common background of variables evaluating the satisfaction with and the subjective importance of the reconstruction, these dimensions emphasized experiences of restoration, freedom from depression, changes in public body image, freedom from tenderness of the reconstruction site, and changes in life patterns, respectively. The dimensions were basically not correlated with each other. The ‘'influence'’ of other variables on these dimensions was studied using multiple regression methods. Social and physical variables (the consistency of the reconstruction included), the incidence of significant life events, and the availability of social support could not be shown to influence the adjustment factors. Some personality traits were of importance, suggesting that the psychological coping style of the patients is influential. The saliency of personality variables is seen against the background that the technical results of the reconstructions on the whole are satisfactory and their variance restricted. In the deep interview, similar patterns of experiences as those identified by the quantitative methods, were found. The relative satisfaction with the reconstruction was for all interviewed patients the result of a process of adjustment that took varying lengths of time.