Qualitative Exploration of Persistent Pain in Breast Cancer Survivors

The research team consisted of researchers and clinicians with experience and expertise in persistent pain, pain management, cancer survivorship and qualitative study methods. Participants were invited to participate in the study through emailing members of the Breast Cancer Network Australia Review and Survey Group, and via advertisement on social media platforms, newsletters and posters. Eighteen women expressed interest to participate in the study, of whom four were excluded because they did not meet the inclusion criteria (n = 2) or did not have time to participate (n = 2). We were able to interview 14 participants who were all given the choice to participate in either a focus group, or in individual semi-structured interviews. Four participants opted for the focus group and ten participants for the semi-structured interviews.
All interviews were conducted by a female investigator (JM) who had a background in Physiotherapy and creative arts and was trained to conduct the interviews by an experienced qualitative researcher. A second investigator attended the interviews to take field notes about interactions between interviewer and interviewee and the physical environment. The second investigator was either a social worker with expertise in qualitative research and chronic pain (MN) or a physiotherapist trained in qualitative methodology (MS). There were no prior relationships between the interviewers and any of the interviewees and participants were not financially compensated for their participation. The a priori developed semi-structured interview guide was followed. The focus group and interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim by the researcher who conducted the interviews. Recruitment, data collection and analysis proceeded concurrently until data saturation was reached (i.e., when no new consistent themes were emerging) (22 ). Participants did not comment on transcripts or initial findings.