‘It depends on how the relationship was before you became ill’: Black South African women’s experiences of life partner support through the trajectory of cervical cancer J.E. MAREE, D CUR (PRET), ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AND HEAD, Department of Nursing Education, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, A. MOSALO, M TECH NURSING, Adelaide Tambo School of Nursing Science, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, & S.C.D. WRIGHT, D TECH NURSING, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR AND HEAD, Adelaide Tambo School of Nursing Science, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa MAREE J.E., MOSALO A. & WRIGHT S.C.D. (2013) European Journal of Cancer Care 22, 459–467 ‘It depends on how the relationship was before you became ill’: Black South African women’s experiences of life partner support through the trajectory of cervical cancer Spouses are the primary source of support for married patients and patients suffering from gynaecological cancers and play a major role in the positive, or negative, management of the disease and treatment. The purpose of the study was to explore the experiences of life partner support among hospitalised women receiving treatment for cervical cancer at an academic hospital in Tshwane, South Africa. An exploratory, qualitative study was conducted using a convenience sampling method. Seventeen (n = 17) women were interviewed. The data were analysed using open coding and a template analysis style. The support women treated for cervical cancer received from their life partner varied. Some were fully supported while others received limited support and some were even abandoned. Both the women and their life partners were challenged in terms of giving and receiving support. How the support they received from their life partners influenced their quality of life is not known and should be the next exploratory step before designing and testing a support intervention to maximise the outcomes for these patients. Keywords: cervical cancer, social, cultural, partner support. BACKGROUND Cervical cancer is a global health problem and the second largest cause of female cancer mortality worldwide. Each year approximately 510 000 women are newly diagnosed with and 288 000 die from cervical cancer (Population Reference Bureau & Alliance for Cervical Cancer Screening 2004). Cervical cancer is considered to be a cancer of the developing world as approximately 83% of all newly diagnosed women reside in developing countries (Denny 2003). It is estimated 78 879 women living in Africa will be diagnosed with cervical cancer annually, while 61 671 will die from this disease, which relates to a higher incidence to mortality ratio than those of the devel- oped world (Denny 2010). As cervical cancer is the most common AIDS related cancer in women (Maiman et al. 1997) it is also the most common cancer of women living in Sub-Saharan Africa (Population Reference Bureau & Alliance for Cervical Cancer Screening 2004). Statistics of the number of South African women newly diagnosed each year and who die from this disease are unknown due to failure to maintain the pathological based cancer registry (Denny 2010). Cronje and Beyer (2007) however estimate that one in 26 women will develop cervical cancer during their lifetime, while the Correspondence address: Johanna Elizabeth Maree, Department of Nursing Education, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 7 York Road, Parktown, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa (e-mail: lize.maree@wits.ac.za). Accepted 15 January 2013 DOI: 10.1111/ecc.12051 European Journal of Cancer Care, 2013, 22, 459–467 Original article © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd