1. Coping Self-Efficacy and Its Relationship with Psychological Morbidity after Genetic Test Result Disclosure: Results from Cancer-Unaffected BRCA1/2 Mutation Carriers
- Author
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Anna Isselhard, Zoe Lautz, Maren Töpper, Kerstin Rhiem, Rita Schmutzler, Frank Vitinius, Hannah Fischer, Birte Berger-Höger, Anke Steckelberg, Karolina Beifus, Juliane Köberlein-Neu, and Stephanie Stock
- Subjects
BRCA1 ,BRCA2 ,self-efficacy ,psychological burden ,anxiety ,breast cancer ,Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis ,Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health - Abstract
Women who are found to carry a BRCA1/2 pathogenic variant experience psychological distress due to an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer. They may decide between different preventive options. In this secondary analysis of data collected alongside a larger randomized controlled trial, we are looking at 130 newly found BRCA1/2 pathogenic variant carriers and how their coping self-efficacy immediately after genetic test result disclosure is related to their psychological burden and status of preventive decision making. Participants received the Coping Self-Efficacy Scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, the Impact of Event Scale, the Decisional Conflict Scale, and the Stage of Decision-Making Scale after positive genetic test result disclosure. We found that women with higher coping self-efficacy showed fewer symptoms of anxiety or depression and were less affected by receiving the genetic test result in terms of post-traumatic stress. However, coping self-efficacy had no relationship with any decision-related criteria, such as decisional conflict or stage of decision making. This shows that despite its buffering capacity on psychological burden, possessing coping self-efficacy does not lead to more decisiveness in preference-sensitive decisions.
- Published
- 2023
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