Anticipatory psychological distress in women scheduled for diagnostic and curative breast cancer surgery.
BACKGROUND
Psychological distress is a central experience for women facing diagnostic and curative breast cancer surgery.


OBJECTIVE
The present study was designed to predict anticipatory distress in 187 women scheduled to undergo excisional breast biopsy or lumpectomy.


METHODS
Participants completed questionnaires assessing emotional distress and predictors of this distress (surgery type, worry about the surgical procedure, and worry about what the surgeon will find).


RESULTS
The study found that lumpectomy patients experienced greater anticipatory distress than excisional breast biopsy patients on three of the four distress measures (all ps < 0.05) and that worry about what the surgeon might find partially mediated these effects.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest that although women awaiting lumpectomy are more distressed than women awaiting biopsy, both groups report substantial distress, and, consequently, psychosocial interventions are recommended for both groups.
Schnur
Julie B
JB
Department of Oncological Sciences, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029-6574, USA. julie.schnur@mssm.edu
Montgomery
Guy H
GH
Hallquist
Michael N
MN
Goldfarb
Alisan B
AB
Silverstein
Jeffrey H
JH
Weltz
Christina R
CR
Kowalski
Alexis V
AV
Bovbjerg
Dana H
DH
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001007:Anxiety / Q000209:etiology*; D001706:Biopsy / Q000523:psychology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D015412:Mastectomy, Segmental / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology