Illness perception and emotional distress in a brazilian women sample with and without cancer family history

Abstract

Breast cancer often means a concern for women, especially for those with a family history of the disease. Exposure to external stimuli related to the disease may change women’s illness perception such as its symptoms, control and cure assimilation, as well as causes and consequences involved in the possibility of becoming sick. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between breast cancer perception and emotional distress in women with and without a family history of the disease. Participants of this cross-sectional study were 114 women users of primary health services in the south of Brazil, of which 43 had breast cancer family history (mean age = 48.21, SD = 11.91), and 71 had no such history (mean age = 50.21, SD = 11.44). Instruments were health behaviors questionnaire, illness perceptions questionnaire and distress thermometer. Results suggest that women with breast cancer history believed they had less breast cancer treatment control (U=1088.5; p<0.05) than women without cancer family history. We did not observe differences about distress between groups. We conclude that, in general, illness perception and distress between women with and without cancer family history is similar, although the former believe that breast cancer is difficult to control.