Assessing the sleepwear and lingerie needs of post-mastectomy breast cancer survivors at Princess Margaret Hospital: A clothing design project

Highlights

Sweet Dreams: designing sleepwear and lingerie for breast cancer survivors
Spotlight: In 2010, over 230 000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in North America. Treatment for breast cancer typically involves breast tissue removal and this may cause scarring, changes to breast size, and torso asymmetry and the associated anxiety and depression due to an altered body image.

For those women who chose to use prosthesis, they tend to alter their clothing choices (for example, high necklines and loose fitting tops) in an effort to camouflage their asymmetries. Patients have expressed difficulty in finding affordable clothing options that are comfortable, aesthetically appealing, and are sexually attractive.

In collaboration with the Ryerson University School of Fashion, ELLICSR researcher Joyce Nyhof-Young, and collaborators Sandra Tullio-Pow (associate professor with the School of Fashion) and Kirsten Schaefer (graduate student with the School of Fashion) set out to improve the coping and quality of life of women with body image changes due to breast cancer treatment by designing fashionable, affordable, and functional sleepwear. The proposed designs were developed from the feedback and needs of breast cancer survivors. Designers focused on color, comfort, cost, and cut.

The connection between clothing fit and a woman’s self esteem and feelings of femininity is very strong. Women just feel good in nice sleepwear, and the focus of this project is to improve the quality of life of cancer survivors by working with women to design sleepwear that is comfortable and meets their needs.

The next step is a larger field test, implemented through the newly launched website, Sweet Dreams Studio.  One hundred sleepwear sets, available in 4 different fabrics have been locally manufactured and these pieces are available now, please visit sweetdreamsstudio.ca for more information.