ArticlePalliative & supportive care2018
Cancer treatment experiences among survivors of childhood sexual abuse: A qualitative investigation of triggers and reactions to cumulative trauma.
Article in Palliative & supportive care, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Trauma-informed care within oncology? Understanding the impact of childhood trauma on experiences of cancer and cancer services in adulthood.British journal of health psychology · 2026Article
- Impact of prior sexual trauma on patient experience and comfort in breast cancer radiation therapy.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Article
- Identifying radiation therapists' perceptions of potentially triggering aspects of care for survivors of sexual violence undergoing radiotherapy.Journal of medical imaging and radiation sciences · 2023Article
- Effects of trauma history on cancer-related screening, diagnosis, and treatment.The Lancet. Oncology · 2023Review
- Trauma-Informed Radiation Therapy: Implementation and Evaluation of a Sensitive Practice Tool for Female Patients Undergoing Radiotherapy for Breast Cancer.Journal of the American College of Radiology : JACR · 2022Article
- Gender and Patient Satisfaction in a Veterans Health Administration Outpatient Chemotherapy Unit.Federal practitioner : for the health care professionals of the VA, DoD, and PHS · 2022Article
- Sexual health and wellbeing after pelvic radiotherapy among women with and without a reported history of sexual abuse: important issues in cancer survivorship care.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2021Article
- Leveraging crowdsourcing methods to collect qualitative data in addiction science: Narratives of non-medical prescription opioid, heroin, and fentanyl use.The International journal on drug policy · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
ABSTRACTObjective:Some 25% of women and 8% of men in the United States have experienced childhood sexual abuse (CSA) before the age of 18. For these individuals, healthcare visits and interactions can be retraumatizing due to perceived similarities to past abuse (e.g., pain, undressing, lack of control). However, no prior studies have provided formal qualitative analyses regarding CSA survivors' reactions to cancer treatment. Therefore, our study's objective was to identify key themes pertaining to CSA survivors' cancer treatment experiences.
methodMale and female members of the Amazon Mechanical Turk (N = 159, mean age = 44.27 years, SD = 10.02) participated in an anonymous online survey study. The inclusion criteria included reporting: history of CSA; a diagnosis of colorectal, gynecological, breast, or skin cancer; and experience of triggers and/or difficulties during cancer treatment. Participants' responses to open-ended questions were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis.
resultsWe identified two primary themes describing CSA survivors' experiences: Theme 1: treatment-related triggers (key subthemes: procedure-related, provider-related, and emotional triggers); and Theme 2: questioning the meaning of cumulative trauma (e.g., "Why me again?"). SIGNIFICANCE OF
resultsFor CSA survivors, cancer and its treatment can trigger thoughts and emotions associated with the original abuse as well as negative evaluations of themselves, the world, and their future. Our findings are consistent with past research on CSA survivors' experiences in non-cancer healthcare settings and add to the literature by highlighting their struggles during cancer treatment. The present results can inform further research on trauma survivors' reactions to cancer treatment and give cancer care providers the context they need to understand and sensitively serve a substantial yet often overlooked patient group.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.