This Record is a digital tombstone. The data files associated with this record were destroyed/deleted on the 16 April 2026 in line with the approved retention schedule. 

In the UK, men with breast cancer account for 1% of all new cases of breast cancer with only 341 men receiving this diagnosis throughout the UK in 2008. There is a lack of research on all aspects of men with breast cancer in large part due to the rarity of the disease. However it is the psychosocial effects of receiving a breast cancer diagnosis, and the subsequent support available to men, that has in particular been ignored. To date, no study compares men’s and women’s experiences of having breast cancer. Furthermore, breast cancer is arguably at the most extreme ‘female’ end of a spectrum of illnesses that men can experience, and is likely to pose particular challenges for men’s identities, which may have profound implications for their use of health services, attitudes to treatment and living beyond their cancer diagnosis. The aim of this study therefore was to compare men’s and women’s experiences of having breast cancer and what effect, if any, having a ‘female’ cancer had on a man’s identity.