title: Psychological impact of health risk appraisal of Korean women at different levels of breast cancer risk: neglected aspect of the web-based cancer risk assessment tool.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Health risk appraisal is often utilized to modify individual's health behavior, especially concerning disease prevention, and web-based health risk appraisal services are being provided to the general public in Korea. However, little is known about the psychological effect of the health risk appraisal even though poorly communicated information by the web-based service may result in unintended adverse health outcomes. This study was conducted to explore the psychological effect of health risk appraisal using epidemiological risk factor profile.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a randomized trial comparing risk factor list type health risk appraisal and risk score type health risk appraisal. We studied 60 women aged 30 years and older who had no cancer. Anxiety level was assessed using the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory YZ.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results of multivariate analysis showed that risk status was the independent predictors of increase of state anxiety after health risk appraisal intervention when age, education, health risk appraisal type, numeracy, state anxiety, trait anxiety, and health risk appraisal type by risk status interaction was adjusted. Women who had higher risk status had an odd of having increased anxiety that was about 5 times greater than women who had lower risk status.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings indicate that communicating the risk status by individual health risk appraisal service can induce psychological sequelae, especially in women having higher risk status. Hospitals, institutes, or medical schools that are operating or planning to operate the online health risk appraisal service should take side effects such as psychological sequelae into consideration.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Information and Education Branch, National Cancer Center, Korea.
authors.forename: Su Yeon
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kye
authors.forename: Keeho
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Hyeong Geun
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Myung-hyun
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013315:Stress, Psychological