Table 4.

Individual domain

Theme 3: Fears of cancer treatments and effects
Subthemes	Participant quotations
1: Fear of surgical treatment	o “…the people who have been cut, I know that they die…I’ve never heard of one who has survived after having their second breast cut…so, I don’t know if they can, that’s the thing that I don’t understand.” FGD 1,4 o “It is scary because sometimes, you find that- there’s a woman I know, she had cancer of the breast, they were going to take it out, so they cut the wrong vein, she died with her hand big and rotten” FGD 2
2: Fear of treatment side effects	o “Some it doesn’t make you weak, but some people when they leave there iyho, they are miserable.”- (FGD 2) o “They say that they burn it because a lot of people who I know, they used to say that when they are going to the hospital, they are going to burn it, but it seems like it doesn’t get better, it keeps getting worse”- FGD 5 o “…they don’t come back being better when they return from chemo, they come back being weak …she comes back having changed, weak, she’s tired and whatnot…not wanting anything…she would just want to sleep, she struggles when she goes to the toilet…she cries…when she comes back from chemo, haii”- FGD 5
3: Fear of treatment impact on appearance	o “Changing colour and hair that shreds yoh”- FGD 2, 3 o “You know as I was saying that I have an ex-colleague of mine who had cancer, her hands would turn black…I would ask myself that, how does it happen for the hands to turn black.”- FGD 5