“Probably Benign?!”: Communicated Narrative Sense-Making in Patients with Benign Breast Disease

Though medically perceived as harmless, researchers have demonstrated that Benign Breast Disease (BBD) is viewed differently by patients than clinicians. Patients with BBD report lower quality of life caused by diagnosis-associated uncertainty, anxiety, and depression. Despite these known harmful impacts, limited attention has been given to how patients make sense of BBD, which can help us understand patients’ health, coping, and communication. Grounded in communicated narrative sense-making theory, this study sought to understand the types of illness narratives told by patients with BBD. Online videos posted by BBD patients were analyzed via thematic narrative analysis, which employed Frank’s illness narrative typology. Chaos narratives emerged as the predominant story type, followed by restitution and quest narratives. Patients’ narratives revealed unique BBD meanings such as illness uncertainty management and intersectional illness experiences of Black and Asian women. Implications include the need for a reevaluation of diagnostic terms and the value of storytelling within clinical interventions.