Social Development & Welfare Planning

Family Social Capital, A Missing Link in Understanding the lived Experiences of Women suffering from cancer

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

masoomeh ghasemi 1
mohammad abbaszadeh 2
fatemeh gholabi 3
mohammad bagger alizadeh agdam 4
Tavakkol Aghayari Hir 5

1 PhD student in Economic Sociology and Development, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, University of Tabriz

2 Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Tabriz,

3 Professor, Department of Social Sciences and Founding Member of the Scientific Sociology of Health Center, University of Tabriz

4 Associate Professor of Social Sciences and Director of the Scientific Center of Health Sociology, University of Tabriz

5 Faculty Member/University of Tabriz

https://doi.org/10.22054/qjsd.2022.64917.2276
Abstract
Despite a wide range of documents, articles, and circles that increasingly cite "social capital" as a way to promote the health, family social capital is a missing link in cancer studies. Women suffering from cancer find an important part of their life meaning in lived family relationships. In this study, a qualitative approach with an emphasis on interpretive phenomenological method was used to understand the perception and lived experience of women suffering from cancer and their families of mutual norms in family ties. Field data were collected using interview techniques and data saturation criteria. The respondednts included women with cancer referred to Omid Hospital in Urmia and a family member who accompanies them to the treatment center. Analysis and coding of data show that some themes such as the break in the structure of family social capital (first mother, then wife) and the negative social capital in the participants' experiences indicate how social capital within the family has adversely affected the health of women with cancer. The themes of silence / protest, cohesion in emergency situation, and hidden mediation suggest that social capital is reciprocally affected by the disease and it can somehow be strengthened by it.
Keywords: Family social capital, positive social capital, negative social capital, lived experience

Keywords

Family social capital
positive social capital
negative social capital
lived experiences
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