O corporeidade no adoecimento por câncer entre pacientes oncológicos em quimioterapia: um estudo qualitativo

Abstract

In recent years, cancer diagnoses have increased exponentially throughout the global territory. Thus, living with the disease and starting chemotherapy treatment triggers feelings of anxiety, anguish and fear, which awaken a new look at existence itself. To analyze the relationships between the body and illness among cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. It is a qualitative methodology with the use of the theoretical framework of culture and embodiment. In all, 63 patients diagnosed with cancer undergoing chemotherapy treatment were interviewed and, among the results, the thematic analysis emerged four categories, namely: The body signals cancer, the body reacts to chemotherapy, the careless body and the religious body/ spiritual. In this study, the diagnosis of cancer directs attention to a careless body that understands the triggering factors of the disease based on the perception of lifestyle. Thus, the biological body after the initiation of chemotherapy awakens the vigilance of a sick body with multiple representations that interprets its existence and the impacts of treatment on the social, spiritual and cultural self.