Wilmoth M C, Ross J A
College of Nursing and Health Professions, University of North Carolina at Charlotte 28223, USA.
Cancer Pract. 1997 Nov-Dec;5(6):353-9.
The authors describe women's perceptions of how their sexuality was affected by treatment for breast cancer. This description is part of a larger study that tested the psychometric properties of a sexuality measure.
This exploratory study analyzed 105 women's responses to one question that asked them to describe how their sexuality had changed since their breast cancer diagnosis. Two researchers independently used content analytic procedures to identify themes that emerged from the data.
Four themes emerged: Physical Sexual Functioning, Relationship Quality, Psychological Self, and Self as Female. Women who had reconstructive surgery indicated that the loss of feeling in the reconstructed breast was sexually troublesome and disappointing. Comparison of the qualitative data with quantitative data (triangulation) provided support for the finding of no significant differences in sexual functioning before women treated by lumpectomy versus mastectomy.
Breast cancer affects many aspects of a woman's sexuality, including changes in physical functioning and in perception of femaleness. Informed healthcare decisions cannot be made until patients are knowledgeable about the sexual outcomes of cancer therapies. Healthcare professionals must acknowledge the scope of the impact of cancer treatment on sexuality, include such information as part of the informed consent process, and provide appropriate education and referral.
作者描述了女性对乳腺癌治疗如何影响其性功能的看法。这一描述是一项更大规模研究的一部分，该研究测试了一种性功能测量方法的心理测量特性。
这项探索性研究分析了105名女性对一个问题的回答，该问题要求她们描述自乳腺癌诊断以来其性功能发生了怎样的变化。两名研究人员独立使用内容分析程序来确定数据中出现的主题。
出现了四个主题：身体性功能、关系质量、心理自我以及作为女性的自我。接受重建手术的女性表示，重建乳房感觉丧失在性方面令人困扰且失望。将定性数据与定量数据进行比较（三角验证），为保乳手术与乳房切除术治疗的女性在性功能方面无显著差异这一发现提供了支持。
乳腺癌会影响女性性功能的多个方面，包括身体功能变化和对女性特质的认知。在患者了解癌症治疗的性结果之前，无法做出明智的医疗决策。医疗保健专业人员必须认识到癌症治疗对性功能影响的范围，将此类信息纳入知情同意过程，并提供适当的教育和转诊服务。
