Attentional bias and metacognitions in cancer survivors with high fear of cancer recurrence

作者：Butow P^*; Kelly S; Thewes B; Hruby G; Sharpe L; Beith J

来源：Psycho-Oncology, 2015, 24(4): 416-423.

DOI：10.1002/pon.3659

• cancer
• fear of recurrence
• attentional bias

BackgroundFear of cancer recurrence (FCR) is a common and severe problem amongst cancer survivors, but mechanisms to explain its development and maintenance are still lacking. The self-regulatory executive S-REF) model suggests that metacognitions and attentional bias to cancer-related words may explain high FCR. Thus, this study aimed to explore relationships between FCR, metacognitions and attentional bias in a mixed group of cancer survivors.
MethodSixty-three early-stage breast or prostate cancer survivors, diagnosed within 6months to 5years prior to participation and who had completed all hospital-based treatment with no evidence of cancer recurrence were recruited through two metropolitan oncology clinics. Participants completed a questionnaire battery and the dot-probe task.
ResultsSurvivors with clinical FCR had significantly greater positive beliefs about worry (10.1 vs 7.4, p=0.002) and beliefs about the uncontrollability and danger of worry (12.0 vs 7.7, p=0.000) than those with non-clinical FCR, whereas the total metacognition score significantly predicted FCR in multiple regression analysis (=0.371, p=0.001). No significant differences were detected between participants scoring above and below clinical FCR levels in attention bias indices.
ConclusionsThis study found partial support for the S-REF model of FCR, with metacognitions but not attentional bias found to be related to FCR. Further research is needed to explore attentional biases in more detail.

• 出版日期2015-4