Work

Breast Cancer Patients’ Parenting Concerns User Personas: A Qualitative Analysis

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Breast cancer disproportionately affects young women raising minor children. Unresolved parenting concerns can impair patients mental health, reduce treatment adherence, and compromise long-term oncological outcomes. However, previous studies have paid limited attention to the heterogeneity of parenting concerns in this population and lack a theory-grounded classification framework for stratified supportive care. This descriptive qualitative study, framed by social role theory, recruited 17 Chinese breast cancer patients through maximum variation sampling and conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews. From four dimensions-role expectation, role load, role resources, and role adaptation-the study extracted four distinct parenting concern personas: role overload, role strain, role resilience, and role disablement. The four subgroups differed significantly in maternal role expectations, treatment-related physical burden, family support resources, and coping strategies. These findings can assist clinicians in identifying the specific types of distress faced by different patient subgroups, thereby providing a basis for developing stratified and individualized precision support strategies.

Source: Current Oncology

DOI: 10.3390/curroncol33090501

Authors: Ying Zhang, Ming Liu, Xiaoning Fan, Hailing Tu, Yin Wang, Jingfang Hong

Institutions: Anhui Medical University, University of Science and Technology of China, First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University

Language: English

Topic: Family Support in Illness

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,654