ArticleHealth expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy2021
Talking about breast symmetry in the breast cancer clinic: What can we learn from an examination of clinical interaction?
Article in Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- Preoperative Expectations of Women Undergoing Breast Reconstruction Surgery.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2024Article
- Patient-to-Patient Interactions During the Pain Management Programme: The Role of Humor and Venting in Building a Socially Supportive Community.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Talking about breast symmetry in the breast cancer clinic: What can we learn from an examination of clinical interaction?Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2021Article
- Goldilocks Principle: Preference for Change in Breast Size in Breast Cancer Reconstruction Patients.Frontiers in psychology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBreast asymmetry is a common post-operative outcome for women with breast cancer. Quality of cosmetic result is viewed clinically as a critical endpoint of surgery. However, research suggests that aesthetic standards governing breast reconstruction can be unrealistic and may problematically enforce feminine appearance norms. The aim of reconstructive procedures is to help women live well with and beyond breast cancer. Therefore, understanding how patients and clinicians talk about surgical outcomes is important. However, we lack evidence about such discussions.
objectiveTo examine clinical communication about breast symmetry in real-time consultations in a breast cancer clinic.
designSeventy-three consultations between 16 clinicians and 47 patients were video-recorded, transcribed and analysed using conversation analysis.
resultsIn most cases, patients do considerable interactional work to persuade clinicians of the validity of their concerns regarding breast asymmetry, and clinicians legitimize these concerns, aligning with patients. In a significant minority of cases, patients appear more accepting of their treatment outcome, but clinicians prioritize symmetry or treat symmetry with the presence of breast tissue as normative, generating misalignment between clinician and patient.
conclusionCurrent clinical communication guidelines and practices may inadvertently reinforce culturally normative assumptions regarding the desirability of full, symmetrical breasts that are not held by all women. Clinicians and medical educators may benefit from detailed engagement with recordings of clinical communication like those analysed here, to reflect on which communicative practices may work best to attend to a patient's individual stance on breast symmetry, and optimize doctor-patient alignment.
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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.