TY - JOUR
T1 - Emerging From the “Ku:” Fluctuating in Adjusting With Breast Cancer—A Post-Traumatic Growth Theory Situated Within Chinese Culture
AU - Zhai, Jianxia
AU - Weller-Newton, Jennifer M.
AU - Shimoinaba, Kaori
AU - Chen, Hong
AU - Copnell, Beverley
N1 - Funding Information:
We express our heartfelt gratitude to the participants. We acknowledge the support of Professor Hong Jiang and Ms Ting Ye for assistance in facilitating the access and recruitment of participants. The first author acknowledges Monash Graduate Education for offering her the scholarship to undertake this study.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
PY - 2020/9/1
Y1 - 2020/9/1
N2 - This purpose of the study was to construct a model (theory) to understand Chinese women’s adjustment process in living with breast cancer. A constructivist grounded theory method was adopted in this study. A total of 24 women were recruited through purposive and theoretical sampling. Semi-structured, audio-recorded interviews were undertaken in Chinese and transcribed. Initial coding, focused coding, and theoretical coding approaches were used to identify subcategories and categories, and to construct the emergent theory. The basic social process these women used to deal with the breast cancer diagnosis was identified as: Emerging from the ‘ku’: Fluctuating in adjusting with breast cancer. Four categories were revealed following analysis: confronting challenges, orienting to reality, accommodating the illness, and transforming their lives, which encapsulated the main cognitive and emotional processes in which Chinese women engaged in their adjustment to living with their illness. The core process was influenced by a variety of contextual influences, which were identified as personal factors, social-environmental factors, and some specific cultural factors which emphasized positive changes. Chinese cultural values such as “Wuwei” coping strategies, familial primacy, and Chinese self-disclosure contribute to Chinese women’s adjustment processes and post-traumatic growth experiences. Hence, there is a need to consider Chinese cultural features, in designing culturally tailored supportive programs in multi-cultural clinical settings.
AB - This purpose of the study was to construct a model (theory) to understand Chinese women’s adjustment process in living with breast cancer. A constructivist grounded theory method was adopted in this study. A total of 24 women were recruited through purposive and theoretical sampling. Semi-structured, audio-recorded interviews were undertaken in Chinese and transcribed. Initial coding, focused coding, and theoretical coding approaches were used to identify subcategories and categories, and to construct the emergent theory. The basic social process these women used to deal with the breast cancer diagnosis was identified as: Emerging from the ‘ku’: Fluctuating in adjusting with breast cancer. Four categories were revealed following analysis: confronting challenges, orienting to reality, accommodating the illness, and transforming their lives, which encapsulated the main cognitive and emotional processes in which Chinese women engaged in their adjustment to living with their illness. The core process was influenced by a variety of contextual influences, which were identified as personal factors, social-environmental factors, and some specific cultural factors which emphasized positive changes. Chinese cultural values such as “Wuwei” coping strategies, familial primacy, and Chinese self-disclosure contribute to Chinese women’s adjustment processes and post-traumatic growth experiences. Hence, there is a need to consider Chinese cultural features, in designing culturally tailored supportive programs in multi-cultural clinical settings.
KW - adjustment
KW - breast cancer
KW - Chinese women
KW - grounded theory
KW - “ku,” post-traumatic growth
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85086784612&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1049732320930195
DO - 10.1177/1049732320930195
M3 - Article
C2 - 32564672
AN - SCOPUS:85086784612
SN - 1049-7323
VL - 30
SP - 1674
EP - 1683
JO - Qualitative Health Research
JF - Qualitative Health Research
IS - 11
ER -