Analysis of subjective experiences of breast cancer patients receiving hypnosis, music, or special attention, during chemotherapy treatment: A content analysis

Abstract

The effectiveness of psychotherapeutic techniques with breast cancer patients has been extensively studied; however, there is limited information available on subjective experiences of patients. The aim of this study was to establish a category system and describe the characteristics of patients’ subjective experiences in three different intervention groups: hypnosis, music, and special attention. Content analysis of short interviews after 21 sessions of intervention was conducted to examine and compare subjective experiences in hypnosis, music, and special attention. Two types of coding system were developed: Characteristics of Involvement (CI) and Intensity of Involvement (II). Based on CI, the most dominant subjective experience of breast cancer patients was the “Pleasant Somatic Experience.” Furthermore, “Visualisation of Symbols” was the most frequent in the hypnosis intervention. Based on II, most common experience of the special attention group was coded as “low intensity.” The frequencies of “low/high intensity” experiences were different between hypnosis and music interventions. “High intensity” was more dominant in hypnosis than music intervention. Both category systems may be reliable tools to examine patients’ subjective experience. Hypnosis as intervention can result in more extended subjective experiences in CI and II.