Posttreatment Concerns of Older Women With Early-Stage Breast Cancer

Background: The majority of older (aged >= 65 years) women diagnosed with breast cancer are in the early stage. However, little is known about older women's posttreatment concerns in the early stages of survivorship. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to describe posttreatment-related concerns of older, early-stage breast cancer survivors. Methods: Fifty older women who completed treatment for early-stage breast cancer participated. Participants were interviewed within the first year since diagnosis. Content analysis was used to analyze transcripts about concerns after treatment. Results: Older women experienced treatment-related adverse effects, but often discussed non-cancer-related concerns as being more pressing than concerns from breast cancer. Older women accepted treatment-related adverse effects as part of life and often attributed adverse effects to causes other than breast cancer. Older women also engaged in "compartmentalization," in which they separated past cancer experiences from everyday life. Conclusion: Non-cancer-related concerns often overshadowed concerns from having had breast cancer. Compartmentalization was used to cope with cancer as a past, not current event. Implications for Practice: New insights on how older women view their disease after treatment can guide nurses in educating older breast cancer survivors about treatment-related adverse effects.