Long-Term Cancer Survivors’ Everyday Embodiment

Long-term survivors of cancer (LTS) face daunting challenges to their physical, emotional, and cognitive well-being in the years following completion of cancer treatment. Most LTS face a new reality shaped by chronic “late effects” of treatments, or illnesses and conditions caused by chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, medications, and other treatments. Copious biomedical research explores the health challenges of patients undergoing cancer treatment, yet relatively little investigates the lived experience of LTS from a health communication perspective. Using Managing Meaning of Embodied Experience Theory (Field-Springer & Striley, 2018 Field-Springer, K., & Striley, K. M. (2018). Managing meanings of embodied experiences theory: Toward a discursive understanding of becoming healthier. Health Communication, 33(6), 700–709.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) as a critical embodiment lens, this study describes LTS’ embodiment of health and illness. Critical qualitative analyses produced three themes: Bodies-in-relation, bodies entangled with biomedical actants, and dynamic embodiment. We discuss implications for health communication research and theorizing and for healthcare practice.