title: Audience responses to a research-based drama about life after breast cancer.
abstract: This article explores audience reactions to the research-based drama Ladies in Waiting? Life After Breast Cancer. Quantitative findings indicate an overwhelmingly positive response, with approximately 90% of those who saw the production agreeing that they benefited from seeing it and indicating that they would recommend it to others. Qualitative data reveal a more complex picture of the range of reactions, allowing us to describe the most valued aspects of the production (mainly how it eased isolation and normalized the difficult aspects of survivorship) and to better understand the few reports of distress. Audience responses to Ladies in Waiting? suggest that chronic aspects of breast cancer are rarely acknowledged. Viewing the production as one that reveals difficult and hidden realities allows for a fuller understanding both of its supportive and unsettling effects.
authors.affiliation: Health Studies Programme & School of Social Work, McMaster University, Kenneth Taylor Hall, Room 212, 1280 Main Street West Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4M4. sinding@mcmaster.ca
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sinding
authors.forename: Ross
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gray
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Grassau
authors.forename: Falia
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Damianakis
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hampson
mesh_terms: D001294:Attitude to Health; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000534:rehabilitation; D004324:Drama; D005246:Feedback; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012107:Research Design; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*