• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.504-518
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• 2009

Purpose: The purpose is to explore the illness experience of Korean women with breast cancer using feminist phenomenology. Methods: Data were collected by individual in-depth interviews from ten women with total mastectomy. The data were analyzed using Colaizzi's method from feminist perspective to reveal implicit socio-cultural norms that oppress women with breast cancer. Results: Two categories and seven major themes emerged: cancer-related experience (1) unfairness of having breast cancer; (2) being confined to the gaze of the others; patriarchy-related experience (3) hardness of being daughter-in-law; (4) struggling to keep on being good mother; (5) continued housework as duty; (6) recognizing self as precious wife, and (7) awakening of true self. All participants felt it was very unfair to get breast cancer because they had done their best for roles of mother, wife, and daughter-in-law. They struggled to free themselves from the social disgrace like the roles imposed by the patriarchal society. By awakening their true selves, they could manage a balance between other-oriented life and self-oriented life. Conclusion: Oncology nurses need to provide psychosocial support for women with breast cancer in finding their true selves in a traditional patriarchal society where women are oppressed and breast cancer is stigmatized.

• Korean Journal of Adult Nursing
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.123-134
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• 2011

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to understand and describe the experiences of young Korean women with attempted suicide. Methods: The data were collected by individual interviews from four women who attempted suicide during 2008-2009. A total of 25 hours interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analyzed using feminist phenomenology to reflect and respect the participants' view and experience as much as possible. Results: Five theme clusters and ten themes emerged from the analysis. Five theme clusters include "anger resulting from others-oriented life," "guilt resulting from selfish life," "confusion resulting from unbalanced life between self and others," "attempted suicide resulting from the chaos of life as a whole," and "peace resulting from balanced life between self and others." While these theme clusters represent the phases of life experience, ten themes indicate specific problems or strategies raised during these phases in the context of male-oriented Korean patriarchal society. Conclusion: The results of the study provide insights by deeply understanding of life of young women who attempted suicide in the Korean sociocultural context with the ideology of the subjection of women.