Studies on Korean families have discussed the role of Korean women caring for their families from the viewpoints of the patrilineal system, patriarchy and Confucian culture. They have looked at situations in which Korean women must care for their families in an environment of male supremacy situations, and stress the importance of the extended 'sidaek' family (i.e., the husband's parents, siblings and relatives). However, in situations where women become ill-although they once cared for their family, they now need caring themselves-or can or will not answer to the family's demands, the family members must change and reconstruct their respective roles of caring. In my research, I have clarified how women and their families in Korea reconstruct their caring by taking care of each other, as the women, who had been expected to care of their own families, face illness themselves. Women's breasts are symbols of sexuality and motherhood. In Korea, the breast is not only viewed as attractive and full of feelings, but also as the repository for negative feelings. In that country, too, there is a disease called 'hwa-byung,' which is a culture-bound syndrome caused by such accumulated negative feelings as anger or dissatisfaction. Korean people think that diseases, not just 'hwa-byung,' are caused by the accumulation of negative feelings in the body. Connecting those factors, they believe that the cause of breast cancer is an accumulation of negative feelings related to their families. Married female breast cancer patients in Korea, in particular, tend to connect the cause of their illness with the self-sacrifice caused by pressure from their husband or the extended 'sidaek' family. They recognize that the burden of caring they had borne was caused by self-sacrifice, and view it is as related to the cause of their illness. Therefore, they start to place more priority on their own desires, and come to value their own importance in family life, so as to cure their illness or prevent a relapse of the cancer. The women attempt to cure their disease through the act of 'hanpuli' (dispelling), namely, by expressing their feelings or doing acts of self-improvement that could not be carried out while they were busy caring for their families. They begin to involve their families in their 'hanpuli,' which in turn changes the nature of care in the family. The patients deal with their husbands and extended 'sidaek' family members in different ways. While their husbands must strive to help out with household chores and show more understanding, the patients avoid contact with their extended 'sidaek' family so as to reduce their stress. That may lead us to think that the women perhaps do not view their 'sidaek' relatives as part of the family. Such observations differ from the conclusions of past studies on Korean families, which have emphasized the importance of the extended 'sidaek' family. The family is reconstructed in such a way that positive support is given to each member of the family.
