BRCA and Motherhood: A Matter of Time and Timing.

The threat of cancer and the effects of risk-reducing surgery can have a significant impact on family planning and family life. In this qualitative study, we examine intersecting experiences of BRCA carrier status, subsequent risk-reducing surgery, and motherhood by analyzing in-depth interviews with 16 Jewish, Israeli mothers (ages 36-57) who underwent risk-reducing mastectomies and/or oophorectomies. Time emerged as a prism through which the BRCA motherhood experience could be viewed. In the "Findings" section, we present concepts of BRCA time and maternal time through three subthemes: (a) objective and subjective fertility clocks and BRCA: the child who won't be born; (b) synchronizing the clocks: the "correct" tempo and chronology; and (c) back to the future: intergenerational coalescence of time. We discuss the notions of time and existential health threats and subjective time in the primary mother-infant relational system within the context of the cultural ideal of the "motherhood myth."

The experience of women carriers of BRCA mutations following risk-reducing surgery: A cultural perspective.

In this qualitative study, we examine the experience of 13 Jewish Israeli women carriers of BRCA mutations following risk-reducing surgery. Thematic analysis of in-depth, semi-structured interview texts yielded three themes: (a) dialectic of vulnerability and control, (b) presentation of self as a "normal" woman, and (c) genetic chain of negative life events and guilt. Aspects of Israeli culture impacting participants' experiences are: personal and collective responsibility, the shift toward consumerism, and pro-natal ideology. The findings may be useful for health practitioners working with other nationalities with similar cultural characteristics and to prompt practitioners to explore their own and their patients' perceptions regarding women's risk-reducing surgery and genetic illnesses.