Illness perceptions and emotional responses to ovarian cancer screening in high risk women [Abstract]

Background: Ovarian cancer is known as the “silent killer”. A prospective psychological evaluation study (PsyFOCS) is underway in partnership with the UK Familial Ovarian Cancer Screening Study, which aims to determine the clinical effectiveness of ovarian screening for high risk women. Methods: Prior to screening, 991 women completed the Illness Perception Questionnaire (adapted for ovarian cancer risk), Impact of Event Scale (IES), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Findings: Over one third of women were moderately or highly distressed about their risk according to IES scores. Hierarchical multiple regression showed that negative emotional representations (p<.001), higher anxiety (p<.001), stronger ovarian cancer screening control beliefs (p<.01), and past ovarian cancer screening recall (p<.05) were associated with higher pre-screening distress. Discussion: The association between ovarian cancer screening control beliefs and distress suggests that more distressed women may place greater faith in screening as a means of controlling genetic risk