Abstract

CAPELOZZA, Maria de Lourdes da Silva Sastre; PECANHA, Dóris Lieth; MATTAR, Rosiane  and  SUN, Sue Yazaki. The emotional dynamic of women with cancer and pregnancy. Bol. - Acad. Paul. Psicol. [online]. 2014, vol.34, n.86, pp. 151-170. ISSN 1415-711X.

The presence of cancer in pregnant women generates important emotional impact on everyone involved, especially to the young women who have to deal simultaneously with two crises: cancer and pregnancy (death and life). This study aims to investigate the emotional dynamics of patients diagnosed with cancer and pregnancy. The research questions guiding the study were: a) Why does a person with cancer gets pregnant or maintain pregnancy? b) Does the experience of pregnancy leads to changes in the women's live perception? A qualitative, comparative and clinical research approach is used by means of content analysis based on thematic categorization. Interview is conducted with 11 women who were divided in two groups: One group has 6 cancer patients and the other 5 healthy pregnant women. Women with cancer show great difficulty in dealing with the diagnosis, strong sense of mourning, fear of death, ambivalence between fear and joy, life and death. The pregnancy also gives them a feeling of being healthy and able to create life. Noteworthy is the way how patients deal with time. To face the fear of death they use short-term goals in their life. It gives them a sense of strength and empowerment to fight disease. Women show a clear concern for protecting the baby during intrauterine and post-natal period. It must be stressed the importance of psychological care helping them to cope with emotional issues and adherence to treatment.

Keywords : Psychological care; pregnancy; cancer.

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