Do Cancer Follow-Up Consultations Create Anxiety?

Introduction: Recent literature has suggested that follow-up visits provide psychological support for patients with cancer, but largely without objective evidence. Aims: To examine the psychological impact of follow-up consultations on cancer patients and identify factors that influence patient anxi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of psychosocial oncology Vol. 26; no. 1; pp. 17 - 30
Main Authors:	Gabriel, Gabriel Sam, Lah, Minjae, Barton, Michael, Au, Gerald, Delaney, Geoff, Jalaludin, Bin
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	New York, NY Taylor & Francis 01-01-2008 Haworth Press Taylor & Francis LLC
Subjects:	Adult Aged Aged, 80 and over Anxiety Anxiety - etiology Anxiety - prevention & control Anxiety - psychology Attitudes Biological and medical sciences Cancer Consultants Coping Cross-Sectional Studies Emotions Female follow-up Follow-Up Studies Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology General aspects Health Care Services Humans Illness and personality Illness, stress and coping Male Medical sciences Middle Aged Neoplasms - psychology Neoplasms - rehabilitation New South Wales Observation Patient Satisfaction Patients Perceptions Physicians Progressive Patient Care Psychology Psychology and medicine Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry Psychology. Psychophysiology Risk Factors Social Support state-trait anxiety inventory Tumors New South Wales Sydney New South Wales Australia Australia Human Affect affectivity follow-up Questionnaire Follow up study Psychometrics Anxiety Clinical investigation Personality state-trait anxiety inventory Malignant tumor Cancer
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Summary:	Introduction: Recent literature has suggested that follow-up visits provide psychological support for patients with cancer, but largely without objective evidence. Aims: To examine the psychological impact of follow-up consultations on cancer patients and identify factors that influence patient anxiety. Methods: Patients attending a routine follow-up at Liverpool Cancer Therapy Centre were surveyed. Using the State & Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), anxiety scores were obtained before and after consultation. Results: Two hundred and thirty-one patients participated, 199 patients were treated with curative intent, 62% were male. The mean anxiety score was higher in females and in palliative cases. Lower levels of social support, poor perception of own health and receiving bad news during consultation were associated with higher STAI scores. Satisfaction with cancer treatment was associated with lower STAI scores. There was a small but statistically significant reduction of anxiety scores after consultation (p = 0.02). Conclusions: When measured objectively, specialist consultation appears to have a small, but statistically significant, positive impact on the level of patient anxiety. Patient satisfaction correlated well with the patient anxiety levels.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0734-7332 1540-7586
DOI:	10.1300/J077v26n01_02