title: A Prospective Study of the Association of Metacognitive Beliefs and Processes with Persistent Emotional Distress After Diagnosis of Cancer.
abstract: Two hundred and six patients, diagnosed with primary breast or prostate cancer completed self-report questionnaires on two occasions: before treatment (T1) and 12 months later (T2). The questionnaires included: the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; Impact of Events Scale; the Metacognitions Questionnaire-30 (MCQ-30) and the Illness Perceptions Questionnaire-revised. A series of regression analyses indicated that metacognitive beliefs at T1 predicted between 14 and 19 % of the variance in symptoms of anxiety, depression and trauma at T2 after controlling for age and gender. For all three outcomes, the MCQ-30 subscale 'negative beliefs about worry' made the largest individual contribution with 'cognitive confidence' also contributing in each case. For anxiety, a third metacognitive variable, 'positive beliefs about worry' also predicted variance in T2 symptoms. In addition, hierarchical analyses indicated that metacognitive beliefs explained a small but significant amount of variance in T2 anxiety (2 %) and T2 depression (4 %) over and above that explained by demographic variables, T1 symptoms and T1 illness perceptions. The findings suggest that modifying metacognitive beliefs and processes has the potential to alleviate distress associated with cancer.
authors: Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, The Whelan Building, Brownlow Hill, Liverpool, L69 3GB UK ; Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, Liverpool, UK.
authors: Sharon A
authors: SA
authors: Cook
authors: Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, The Whelan Building, Brownlow Hill, Liverpool, L69 3GB UK ; Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, Liverpool, UK.
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Salmon
authors: Centre for Biostatistics, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
authors: Graham
authors: G
authors: Dunn
authors: Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, Liverpool, UK.
authors: Chris
authors: C
authors: Holcombe
authors: Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust, Liverpool, UK.
authors: Philip
authors: P
authors: Cornford
authors: Psychological Sciences, University of Liverpool, The Whelan Building, Brownlow Hill, Liverpool, L69 3GB UK.
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Fisher
keywords: Breast cancer; Causal predictors; Emotional distress; Metacognitive beliefs; Prostate cancer
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