Stress and Coping in Genetic Testing for Cancer Risk
Abstract
Predictive testing is now possible for mutations of genes which convey high risk of breast cancer, as well as an unknown increase in the risk for ovarian cancer. Testing is already being offered to our sample of high-risk women who have been participating in genetic linkage and mutation studies, but testing has also become more generally available. In the absence of a large body of relevant prior research, we are faced with an urgent need for basic descriptive data concerning women at high-risk for early onset breast cancer and their families; their psychosocial assets and liabilities, their attitudes and beliefs, their intention to seek predictive testing, and their preparedness for possible results. This project involves a prospective study of high risk women drawn from a hereditary cancer registry and their families in a time period spanning from prior to the offering of predictive testing to a year following their decision whether to obtain such testing. Important results include findings that these high risk women are remarkably free of psychological distress and psychiatric morbidity.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 01, 1997
- Accession Number
- ADA330906
Entities
People
- James C. Coyne
Organizations
- University of Michigan