“Art is just something that makes people heal”—a qualitative investigation of tattoo artists’ perspectives on cancer survivorship therapeutic tattoos
Adam Daly, Johannes Karl, Simon Dunne
Journal of Cancer Survivorship
School of Psychology
Abstract

Many cancer treatments can lead to a disrupted body image and identity. One intervention to address these outcomes is therapeutic tattooing. However, despite the wide dissemination of this practice for cancer survivors (CSs), current research on it is lacking. This study aimed to identify tattoo artists’ (TAs’) perspectives on the types, impacts, barriers, and facilitators of therapeutic tattooing for CSs and the impact of doing this work on themselves. Methods Twenty-two international TAs who tattoo CSs were interviewed and resultant transcripts were analyzed thematically. Results The following themes emerged: Emotional Management of Artists, Emotional Transformation of CSs, Stigma and its effects on CSs, Artist Barriers, CS Barriers, Artist Facilitators, and CS Facilitators.