title: Therapeutic landscapes and living with breast cancer: the lived experiences of Thai women.
abstract: Breast cancer is an "emotionally debilitating disease" that affects the lives of women of all ages. In this paper, we discuss the lived experience of breast cancer among women in southern Thailand and situate our discussions within the concept of therapeutic landscapes. We adopted a feminist framework as our research methodology and employed qualitative and innovative methods. The therapeutic landscapes of healing involved multiple levels of landscape changes including body, home, neighbourhood, health care and cultural contexts. Our findings offer a particular insight into the role of emotions, cultural beliefs, and practices in forming therapeutic landscapes among women living with breast cancer in Thailand. It is crucial that health care providers understand the emotional experiences of women with breast cancer and their particular cultural needs for emotional healing landscapes. Our findings could be used as evidence for developing culturally appropriate therapeutic strategies and interventions for women with breast cancer in Thailand and elsewhere.
authors: School of Psychology and Public Health, College of Science, Health and Engineering, La Trobe University, Bundoora 3086, Australia. Electronic address: pranee@latrobe.edu.au.
authors: Pranee
authors: P
authors: Liamputtong
authors: School of Public Health, Thaksin University, Phatalung, Thailand.
authors: Dusanee
authors: D
authors: Suwankhong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001828:Body Image; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D019513:Feminism; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008875:Middle Aged; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D012944:Social Support; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*; D013785:Thailand
keywords: Body; Breast cancer; Emotional experience; Qualitative inquiry; Southern Thailand; Thai women; Therapeutic landscape