Transformation of women with breast cancer in Mainland China using a seven-step model of mindfulness-based narrative therapy (MBNT)

Abstract

ABSTRACT Women with breast cancer in China must exert considerable effort to resist stigma and the impact of treatment side effects. They suffer not only the overwhelming consequences of bodily disfigurement but also gender stigmatisation, with adverse impacts on their mental and sexual health. Research from Western countries indicates that most women with cancer report some “beneficial” consequences of their breast cancer experience. In the mindfulness-based narrative therapy (MBNT) project reported in this article, researchers collaborated with health professionals and female patients from a breast cancer hospital in Mainland China to develop an intervention approach. This article aims to demonstrate how social workers adopted MBNT for a self-help group for Chinese women with breast cancer to enable the women to discover the “gain” of “illness”, which provides a source of power to combat self-stigmatisation.