Breast Cancer's Impact on Adolescent Daughters: A Literature Review
This paper presents a literature review examining how breast cancer in a mother affects her adolescent daughter psychologically and relationally. Using Moustakas's (1994) transcendental phenomenological model as its theoretical framework, the study explores the everyday lived experiences of adolescent daughters to better understand their anxiety, psychological distress, fear of hereditary risk, and shifts in family roles. The review surveys prior qualitative and quantitative research, identifies gaps in existing knowledge, and justifies a qualitative design that extends participant age ranges beyond those used in earlier studies. Findings from the literature indicate that adolescent daughters are among the family members most vulnerable to psychological harm and that incorporating their experiences into treatment planning can benefit both the patient and the broader family unit.
- Introduction: Breast cancer's impact on daughters and study purpose
- Theoretical Framework: Transcendental Phenomenological Model: Moustakas's phenomenological model and interview design
- Psychological Effects of Breast Cancer on Adolescent Daughters: Anxiety, depression, and hereditary fears in daughters
- The Daughter's Role in the Family and Patient Care: Daughters' caregiving roles and treatment implications
- Methodological Approaches and Limitations: Qualitative and quantitative methods, study limitations
- Study Design and Research Rationale: Justification for expanded qualitative design approach
- Summary and Conclusions: Research gaps, significance, and future directions
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper grounds its methodology in a clearly named theoretical model (Moustakas's transcendental phenomenological model), explaining both its philosophical origins and its practical application to the research question.
- It honestly acknowledges the limitations of qualitative research — small sample sizes, narrow age ranges, limited comparison groups — and explains how this study addresses those shortcomings.
- The review synthesizes multiple strands of prior research (psychological distress, hereditary risk, family role shifts) into a coherent rationale for the proposed study design.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper exemplifies justified methodology selection: rather than simply naming a research design, the author explains why the transcendental phenomenological model is appropriate for this specific population and research question, citing its emphasis on lived experience, its requirements for researcher objectivity, and its ability to yield flexible, in-depth data that quantitative methods cannot. This technique — linking epistemological assumptions to design choices — is a hallmark of rigorous qualitative research proposals.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with a statement of the problem and purpose, then establishes the theoretical framework in detail before moving through a thematic literature review covering psychological effects, family roles, and prior methodological approaches. It closes with a summary of gaps in the literature and an explicit rationale for the proposed study's design innovations. This progression from theory → evidence → rationale is well-suited to a research proposal or literature review format.
Introduction
Cancer is a serious health issue that threatens millions of Americans. Women in particular are heavily affected by breast cancer, which crosses racial and age borders (American Cancer Society, 2006). Millions of women become victims of breast cancer annually. Such a traumatic experience as cancer can affect not only the patient, but also her family (Romer et al., 2002). These effects have been shown to hit daughters of breast cancer patients the hardest. Thus, the purpose of this study is the further exploration of the effects breast cancer has on patients' adolescent daughters. It aims to do so using qualitative measures that allow the everyday experiences of such adolescents to reveal the depth of cancer's impact on them. This information will then provide further insight into the nature of psychological distress and anxiety experienced by some adolescent daughters of breast cancer patients, which can help shape current programs and counseling methods into more effective care, for both the breast cancer patient herself and her entire family.
This literature review first explores the theoretical orientation for the study before examining previous research. Moustakas's (1994) transcendental phenomenological model will be used within a qualitative design. This will aim to bridge the gap of knowledge within much current research. The effect of breast cancer on the family, and especially the adolescent daughter, is examined alongside the importance of her role in supporting and caring for both the family as a whole and her mother who is afflicted with breast cancer. The literature discussed was surveyed using search terms such as "adolescent daughter" and "breast cancer," and searches were conducted through publications such as Sagebrush along with local library resources.
References
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