Abstract

MONIZ, Patrícia da Assunção Fonseca; FERNANDES, Ana Mafalda  and  OLIVEIRA, Luís. Implications of mastectomy for women’s sexuality and body image and the response of perioperative nurses. Rev. Enf. Ref. [online]. 2011, vol.serIII, n.5, pp.163-171. ISSN 0874-0283.  https://doi.org/10.12707/RIII1148.

For most women, breast cancer and the frequent amputation foster the development of a negative impact on their body image and, therefore, on their sexuality. The breast is closely related to female identity, maturity, sexuality and motherhood, so the impact of mastectomy on women seems to be clear, leading to challenges for perioperative nurses. Accordingly we produced this paper, whose main objective was to integrate and analyze data from studies, contributing to a better understanding of the current situation and promoting increased quality of care. To this end, research was undertaken using the following databases: Medline interfaced with PubMed, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Repertoire Open Access Scientific Portugal and CINAHL, from which 6 studies were selected according to defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The results of the studies analyzed show that depreciation of body image is directly related to the experience of sexuality such that the more mutilating the surgery, the greater the decline in body image. In this context, nursing interventions, particularly informative, are of extremely important, because they facilitate adaptive processes.

Keywords : mastectomy; sexuality; body image.

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