Alopecia : cotidiano da mulher com câncer de mama em tratamento quimioterápico

Abstract

This is a qualitative study, developed in the Cancer Regional Hospital of Passos, aimed at understand the meaning of alopecia for women with breast cancer under chemotherapy, using Symbolic Interactionism as theory reference and Data Based Theory as methodological reference. The research project was sent to CEP of UNIFAL-MG, approved by number 478.376. There were interviews with thirteen women who had breast cancer diagnosis and were under adjuvant chemotherapy treatment, showing alopecia as an adverse event. The guided question for the interview was: “How is it for you losing hair and body hair during this treatment?” Through this question, we obtained data that after its analysis, it was possible to create two diagrams: 1- Recognizing the new body: about the consequences of chemotherapy treatment and women´s coping strategies against alopecia. 2- Discovering Support Networks for alopecia coping: about support institutions helping women with the disease and the consequences of chemotherapy with alopecia. The main category was called as “Alopecia in women´s breast cancer: understanding the coping strategies for the disease”. This category stated that alopecia is considered the worst moment of treatment and hair losing and eyebrows losing having a depressive effect in women, because besides being physically weaken, they have to rebuild their self, in addition to being suffering society pressure seeing them as sick women. Human interactions were present in all phases of alopecia and coping situations, and how women face alopecia has an analogy between human relationships and what is culturally imposed by the society. Data helped to verify the hair and hair body losing meaning as individual and it was observed that the health professionals should be alert to guide women when alopecia occurs, because this event brings implications in their lives.