The study, led by Sarah Boafowaa Owusu with colleagues Konlan Kennedy Dodam and Lydia Aziato, used an exploratory descriptive qualitative design. The participants were women diagnosed with breast cancer who had undergone radiotherapy at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, one of Ghana’s major referral centres for cancer care. Each woman took part in an in-depth interview guided by a piloted interview guide, meaning the questions had been tested and refined before the main data collection began. The interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed word for word, and then analysed using thematic analysis with the assistance of NVivo 10, a software package designed to help researchers organise and code large volumes of qualitative text.

The analysis revealed two overarching themes: physical experiences and social experiences. Within the physical domain, the researchers identified four sub-themes: pain, breast and skin changes, physical exhaustion, and gastrointestinal symptoms. These are not minor inconveniences. The title of the paper itself, drawn from a participant’s words, captures the daily reality many of these women described: after radiation sessions, they sometimes felt weak and dizzy. Such systemic symptoms, layered on top of localised effects at the treatment site, shaped how the women judged the entire treatment experience and whether they would encourage others to follow the same path.

The physical findings carry particular weight in the Ghanaian context. Breast cancer remains one of the leading causes of illness and death among women worldwide, and radiotherapy, alongside surgery and chemotherapy, is a well-established treatment option. Yet the authors note that many women in low-resource settings refuse these allopathic treatments precisely because of adverse effects that remain poorly identified and poorly managed. In other words, the problem is not only that side effects occur, but that health systems often fail to detect, acknowledge, and treat them effectively. When a woman’s suffering goes unrecognised, her experience becomes a cautionary tale told to sisters, friends, and neighbours, and the cycle of treatment refusal deepens.

The biology of these side effects is well understood in radiation oncology. Ionising radiation damages cancer cells by breaking their DNA, but it also injures surrounding healthy tissue. Skin in the treated field can become red, dry, itchy, and in more severe cases blistered, a condition known as radiation dermatitis. Fatigue is among the most commonly reported effects of radiotherapy across all cancer types, and dizziness and weakness, as the study participants described, can compound the exhaustion. Gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea can arise when radiation fields affect or lie near the upper abdomen, and radiation-induced nausea and vomiting are recognised clinical entities in the pharmacological literature. Pain at the treatment site and changes in the appearance and texture of the breast add a further layer of physical and emotional burden.

What makes the new study distinctive is not the catalogue of symptoms itself but the way those symptoms ripple outward into women’s decisions and their communities’ attitudes. The researchers found that several of the physical experiences reported after radiation therapy deter women diagnosed with breast cancer from consenting to radiotherapy, or from recommending it as a treatment option to others in Ghana. In a health system where late presentation of breast cancer is already a documented problem, and where studies from across Sub-Saharan Africa have shown that women are often diagnosed and treated late, any factor that discourages acceptance of effective treatment has serious consequences for survival.

Yet the study is not only a story of suffering. The second major theme, social experiences, contained three sub-themes: family and partner support, support from employers, churches, and friends, and sexual life challenges. The women’s social networks emerged as a genuine resource. Family members and partners who provided practical and emotional support helped women cope with the demands of daily treatment trips and the physical aftermath. Employers, churches, and friends also played roles in sustaining women through the treatment period, offering encouragement, material help, and a sense that they were not facing the disease alone. The authors argue that these networks could serve as useful motivators in promoting radiotherapy, turning social capital into a clinical asset.

At the same time, the study does not shy away from the difficulties embedded in social life after treatment. Sexual life challenges formed one of the identified sub-themes, reflecting a dimension of post-treatment experience that is frequently overlooked in busy oncology clinics but that shapes intimate relationships and self-image. Research elsewhere in Africa has documented how changes in body image following breast cancer treatment affect women’s sense of identity and their relationships, and the Ghanaian findings align with that broader picture. The authors also build on their own earlier work in Kumasi, which examined the psycho-spiritual wellbeing and coping strategies of women after radiation therapy, indicating a sustained research programme into how Ghanaian women live with and through this treatment.

The recommendations that flow from the study are directed at two levels of the health system. First, the authors call on nurses, midwives, and other health professionals to handle the negative physical symptoms experienced after radiation therapy with tact and professionalism through supportive care services, with the aim of improving acceptance of this treatment option. Supportive care, the branch of oncology concerned with symptom management and quality of life, is thus framed not as an optional extra but as a strategic necessity: if side effects are managed well, women will be more willing to start and complete radiotherapy, and more willing to speak positively about it to others. Second, the researchers recommend that the Ghana Health Service ensure nurses at breast cancer care units utilise the social networks of women undergoing radiation therapy as social capital to reduce the psychological stress associated with the treatment.

The broader significance of the study lies in its method and its setting. Qualitative research of this kind cannot measure how common each symptom is across the population, and the authors are careful to present the findings as the experiences of seventeen women at a single teaching hospital. But what such research can do, and does here, is reveal the texture of lived experience that surveys miss: the weakness and dizziness after a session, the fear of a changing breast, the strain on intimate life, and the quiet power of a supportive church community or an understanding employer. In resource-constrained settings, where oncology services are concentrated in a handful of teaching hospitals and follow-up care can be fragmented, understanding these experiences is a prerequisite for designing services that women will actually use. The study suggests a practical path forward: manage the physical side effects with skill and compassion, and mobilise the families, faith communities, and friendships that already surround these women. If those two strands are woven together, the authors argue, radiotherapy in Ghana could move from being a feared ordeal to an accepted and better tolerated part of breast cancer care.

Subject of Research: Physical and social experiences of Ghanaian women with breast cancer after radiotherapy

Article Title: “After radiation sessions, I sometimes feel weak and dizzy’’: Experiences of Ghanaian women with breast cancer post radiotherapy

Article References: Owusu, S. B., Dodam, K. K., & Aziato, L. (2026). “After radiation sessions, I sometimes feel weak and dizzy’’: Experiences of Ghanaian women with breast cancer post radiotherapy. Supportive Care in Cancer, 34(10), Article 1064. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-026-11304-7

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s00520-026-11304-7

Keywords: breast cancer, radiotherapy, Ghana, qualitative research, supportive care, side effects, nursing, social support, Sub-Saharan Africa, cancer treatment, radiation side effects, women's health