Breast cancer risk classifications are useful for prognosis, yet little is known of their effect on patients. This study clarified women's understandings of risk as they "journeyed" through the health care system. Breast cancer patients and women undergoing genetic investigation were recruited ( N = 25) from a large UK Health Board, 2014-2015, completing a "Book of Experience," and Bio-photographic elicitation interviews. Stakeholder and Participant Feedback Forums were undertaken with key stakeholders, including patients, oncologists, funders, and policy developers, to inform team understanding. Thematic and visual frameworks from multidisciplinary analysis workshops uncovered two themes: "Subjective Understandings of Risk" and "Journeying Toward an Unknown Future." Breast cancer patients and women undergoing investigation experienced risk intuitively. Statistical formulations were often perplexing, diverting attention away from concrete life-and-death facts. Following risk classification, care must be co-defined to reduce patients' foreboding about an unknown future, taking into consideration personal risk management strategies and aspirations for a cancer-free future.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	perceptions, breast cancer,
Research Division:	Health Sciences
Research Group:	Health services and systems
Research Field:	Health services and systems not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Specific population health (excl. Indigenous health)
Objective Field:	Women's and maternal health
UTAS Author:	Hogden, A (Dr Anne Hogden)
ID Code:	137208
Year Published:	2018
Web of Science® Times Cited:	10
Deposited By:	Australian Institute of Health Service Management
Deposited On:	2020-02-05
Last Modified:	2020-05-28
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