Like Having Cancer Isn’t Hard Enough

DailyProgress.com is reporting that a team of professors at the University of Virginia School of Nursing are conducting a study to examine how women who are already abused by their husbands cope with being diagnosed with breast cancer, and how the diagnosis of breast cancer subsequently effects the abusive relationship: ie, do abusive partners shift to a protective role, does a woman’s instinct for self-preservation kick in, or is there no change at all.

I honestly can’t imagine a more frightening scenario than fighting cancer and being abused at the same time. Kudos to the good folks at the University of Virginia for bringing awareness to this appalling, and incredibly under-reported problem. Here’s an excerpt–

“We don’t know how the battery affects the cancer treatment or the cancer treatment affects the battering,” said Richard Steeves, another investigator in the study. “Our hypothesis is that they affect each other significantly.”

A breast cancer patient, for instance, might need her partner to drive her to and from chemotherapy sessions, or may need emotional reassurance that her physical changes make her no less attractive.

“It’s a very lonely experience when you’re diagnosed,” said Karen Bloomfield, coordinator of the Charlottesville American Cancer Society outreach program Reach for Recovery. “You’re not only facing your mortality, but you’re facing that your body sort of failed you.”

…“Violence is so pervasive that it affects these other things that happen to be going on at the same time - like cancer,” Parker said.

The researchers hope their study will help build awareness of the issues that are particular to cancer patients in abusive relationships, and that through their work they can provide a forum for these patients to discuss what they are going through.

“If we can do nothing else with our study, we can at least assure people they are not alone,” Steeves said. “But we plan on doing a lot more than that.”

SOURCE: DailyProgress.com – Study eyes abused cancer patients

Technorati Tags: Breast Cancer