Challenges Faced by Health Care Providers in Dealing with Iranian Women’s Fear of Breast Cancer

ORIGINAL ARTICLE Background: Breast cancer is the most common cause of death in Asian countries, especially in Iran. The current solution, to increase survival and reduce complications, is the early diagnosis of breast cancer. However, fear of the disease is a deterrent to adopting preventive modes of behavior. This study aims to explore the fears faced by healthy women in Yazd, Iran. It also looks at ways in which health care providers deal with this challenging issue. Methods: This study is a directed qualitative content analysis. The researchers conducted 20 semi-structured interviews with 14 women aged between 40 and 65 years. These women were selected through purposeful sampling. The contents of interviews were divided into meaning units after entry into the MAXQDA software. The qualitative analysis was performed according to the protection motivation theory. Results: The main issue, derived from the qualitative content analysis, is called ―infiltrated fear.‖ The participants experienced indescribable horror on hearing the word ―cancer.‖ They believed that fear of cancer is more lethal than the cancer itself. Various underlying causes of this fear were expressed. These included gradual death, burning in the fiery furnace of pain, lack of social support, fear of relatives becoming infected, type of cancer, time of diagnosis, and the insidious nature of the disease. Conclusion: Irrational fear can be replaced by managed fear through some strategies. These include information provided by consultants, helpful relationships with peers, and survivors re-telling their personal experiences. In Islamic doctrine, prophets used promises and warnings as strategy. There was an emphasis on promises. Women can be encouraged to voluntarily adopt preventive modes of behavior by using these strategies.