A new normal?: women's experiences of biographical disruption and liminality following treatment for early stage breast cancer
Increasing numbers of women are surviving breast cancer, but little is known about the long-term implications of having survived a life-threatening illness and living with embodied reminders of its potential to return. Twenty-four women aged between 42 and 80 (median 1/4 51)who had been treated for...
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| Format: | Article |
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Elsevier
2016
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32874/ |
| _version_ | 1848794508869763072 |
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| author | Trusson, Diane Pilnick, Alison Roy, Srila |
| author_facet | Trusson, Diane Pilnick, Alison Roy, Srila |
| author_sort | Trusson, Diane |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Increasing numbers of women are surviving breast cancer, but little is known about the long-term implications of having survived a life-threatening illness and living with embodied reminders of its potential to return. Twenty-four women aged between 42 and 80 (median 1/4 51)who had been treated for early stage breast cancer in the UK between 6 months and 29 years previously, were recruited through local media and interviewed. Analysis of their narratives revealed challenges in the post-treatment period that were conceptualised as biographical disruption and liminality. Although no longer ill, an ongoing fear of recurrence combined with embodied changes prevented a return to ‘normal’ i.e. a pre-cancer state in terms of health status, identity and relationships. We argue that following the biographical disruption of breast cancer, a ‘new normal’ entails a continual renegotiation of identities, daily lives and futures as time passes and lives evolve. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:17:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-32874 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:17:19Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-328742020-05-04T20:04:23Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32874/ A new normal?: women's experiences of biographical disruption and liminality following treatment for early stage breast cancer Trusson, Diane Pilnick, Alison Roy, Srila Increasing numbers of women are surviving breast cancer, but little is known about the long-term implications of having survived a life-threatening illness and living with embodied reminders of its potential to return. Twenty-four women aged between 42 and 80 (median 1/4 51)who had been treated for early stage breast cancer in the UK between 6 months and 29 years previously, were recruited through local media and interviewed. Analysis of their narratives revealed challenges in the post-treatment period that were conceptualised as biographical disruption and liminality. Although no longer ill, an ongoing fear of recurrence combined with embodied changes prevented a return to ‘normal’ i.e. a pre-cancer state in terms of health status, identity and relationships. We argue that following the biographical disruption of breast cancer, a ‘new normal’ entails a continual renegotiation of identities, daily lives and futures as time passes and lives evolve. Elsevier 2016-02 Article PeerReviewed Trusson, Diane, Pilnick, Alison and Roy, Srila (2016) A new normal?: women's experiences of biographical disruption and liminality following treatment for early stage breast cancer. Social Science & Medicine, 151 . pp. 121-129. ISSN 0277-9536 UK; Breast cancer; Biographical disruption; Liminality; Post-treatment; ‘New normal’ http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616300119 doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.01.011 doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.01.011 |
| spellingShingle | UK; Breast cancer; Biographical disruption; Liminality; Post-treatment; ‘New normal’ Trusson, Diane Pilnick, Alison Roy, Srila A new normal?: women's experiences of biographical disruption and liminality following treatment for early stage breast cancer |
| title | A new normal?: women's experiences of biographical disruption and liminality following treatment for early stage breast cancer |
| title_full | A new normal?: women's experiences of biographical disruption and liminality following treatment for early stage breast cancer |
| title_fullStr | A new normal?: women's experiences of biographical disruption and liminality following treatment for early stage breast cancer |
| title_full_unstemmed | A new normal?: women's experiences of biographical disruption and liminality following treatment for early stage breast cancer |
| title_short | A new normal?: women's experiences of biographical disruption and liminality following treatment for early stage breast cancer |
| title_sort | new normal?: women's experiences of biographical disruption and liminality following treatment for early stage breast cancer |
| topic | UK; Breast cancer; Biographical disruption; Liminality; Post-treatment; ‘New normal’ |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32874/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32874/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/32874/ |