Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK. Lifestyle factors including excess weight\ncontribute to risk of developing the disease. Whilst the exact links between weight and breast cancer are still\nemerging, it is imperative to explore how women understand these links and if these beliefs impact on successful\nbehaviour change.\nMethod: Overweight/obese premenopausal women (aged 35ââ?¬â??45) with a family history of breast cancer (lifetime\nrisk 17ââ?¬â??40%) were invited to a semi-structured interview following their participation in a 12 month weight loss\nintervention aimed at reducing their risk of breast cancer. Interviews were carried out with 9 women who\nsuccessfully achieved ?5% weight loss and 11 who were unsuccessful. Data were transcribed verbatim and\nanalysed using thematic analysis.\nResults: Three themes were developed from the analysis. The first theme how women construct and understand links\nbetween weight and breast cancer risk is composed of two subthemes, the construction of weight and breast cancer risk\nand making sense of weight and breast cancer risk. This theme explores womenââ?¬â?¢s understanding of what contributes to\nbreast cancer risk and whether they believe that weight loss could reduce their breast cancer risk. The second theme\nmotivation and adherence to weight loss interventions explains that breast cancer risk can be a motivating factor for\nadherence to a weight loss intervention. The final theme, acceptance of personal responsibility for health is\ncomposed of two subthemes responsibility for oneââ?¬â?¢s own health and responsibility for family health through\nmaking sensible lifestyle choices.\nConclusion: Beliefs about weight and breast cancer risk were informed by social networks, media reports and\npersonal experiences of significant others diagnosed with breast cancer. Our study has highlighted common\ndoubts, anxieties and questions and the importance of providing a credible rationale for weight control and\nweight loss which addresses individual concerns. Counselling and health education material should be tailored\nto facilitate understanding of both genetic and modifiable risk factors and should do more help individuals to\nvisualise the weight and breast cancer link.
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