“Women’s experiences of head and neck cancer: an interpretative phenomenological analysis”

BMC Women's Health

Table 1 Participant characteristics¹

Partipant	Age	Study level	Time since surgery in years	Origin	Type of cancer	Treatment
Aurélie	31	Master’s degree	3	Association²	Orphan cancer³	Several surgeries Chemotherapy Radiotherapy
Mathilda	46	Bachelor’s degree	2	Association	Squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue	Surgery, free flap reconstruction
Hélène	41	Master’s degree	1	Association	Squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue	Surgery, graft, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy
Stéphanie	48	Bachelor’s degree	11	Association	Parotid cancer	Surgery, unknown for the rest of the treatment, recurrence in palliative care⁴
Manon	26	Master’s degree	0	Association	Submandibular gland carcinoma	Chemotherapy, surgery, radiotherapy
Jaqueline	53	Vocational training	6	Hospital⁵	Gingival cancer	Surgery radiotherapy
Madeleine	53	Vocational training	7	Association	Squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity	Neck tumor removal twice with flap, fibula flap, multiple surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy⁶

¹The names appearing in the table are pseudonyms. ²Individuals who were recruited from a specialized association for head and neck cancers. ³One participant has an orphan cancer, leading to prolonged diagnostic wandering. Several diagnoses were successively proposed and later revised, leaving persistent uncertainty about the exact nature of her disease. ⁴The patient has undergone multiple treatments and several surgeries, experiencing numerous side effects. Due to treatment fatigue and exhaustion, she has decided not to continue treatment for now. ⁵Individuals who were recruited from hospital. ⁶The patient has undergone multiple surgeries, including flap reconstruction, which was unsuccessful. She has had a very painful journey and was hospitalized for several months due to post-surgical and radiotherapy complications

ISSN: 1472-6874