The cancer worry chart: a single-item screening measure of worry about developing breast cancer.
BACKGROUND
Brief pictograph measures of health functioning have clinical value to office-based practice. Many women with a close family history of breast cancer will experience worry about their risk of developing breast cancer that influences decision-making and can interfere with health-related functioning.


OBJECTIVE
To develop a clinically - useful triage measure of breast cancer worry for the field setting of office based practice.


METHODS



METHODS
qualitative pilot testing followed by mailed survey.


METHODS
women registered with the Cancer Genetics Network who have a first or second-degree family history of breast cancer and no personal history of any cancer. Novel measure: single pictograph item modeled upon the Dartmouth COOP Charts. Comparison gold-standard measure: four-item Cancer Worry Scale (CWS).


RESULTS
Pilot testing: participants found the item to be easily understood, rapidly completed and unobtrusive. Quantitative: 469 women responded (78% response rate); the Cancer Worry Chart demonstrated strong correlation to the CWS (Pearson correlation coefficient: 0.66, P < 0.001); Receiver operator curve identified favorable characteristics (AUC = 0.86) of the Cancer Worry Chart for identifying cancer worry-related mood or social role dysfunction.


CONCLUSIONS
The new Cancer Worry Chart is a valid triage measure for breast cancer worry.
Gramling
Robert
R
Brown Medical School, Providence, RI, USA. Robert_Gramling@Brown.edu
Anthony
David
D
Frierson
Georita
G
Bowen
Deborah
D
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014481:United States