With the present work, we reviewed literature exploring breast cancer and body image and invoked this synthesis as a platform from which to develop (a) theoretical applications for understanding the embodied experience of breast cancer, (b) implications for counseling interventions, and (c) recommendations for continued research. Of particular relevance to our analyses was theory related to the social construction of the female body and also theories related to meaning-making, illness, and loss. Based upon our synthesis, we suggest a counseling approach in which professionals treating breast cancer patients listen for and attend to breast cancer patients' attributions of meaning and consider the varied influences that may contribute to those meanings. Additionally, we propose that researchers invoke qualitative approaches and social constructionist/meaning-making perspectives to build understanding about the ways in which a woman's social roles, embodied history, world views, and other contextual factors shape her embodied experience of breast cancer.
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