Communication by Mothers with Breast Cancer or Melanoma with Their Children

Abstract

Communication of familial risk of breast cancer and melanoma has the potential to educate relatives about their risk, and may also motivate them to engage in prevention and early detection practices. With the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy laws, the patient often becomes the sole communicator of such risks to family members. This study surveys mothers diagnosed with either breast cancer or melanoma and their adult children about their family communication style, knowledge of increased risk, and early detection practices. In both cancer groups, most mothers alerted their children of the risk and need for early detection practices. Breast cancer mothers communicated risk and secondary prevention with early detection by breast self-examination and mammograms whereas the melanoma mothers communicated risk and primary prevention strategies like applying sunscreen and avoiding deliberate tanning. Open communication about health matters significantly increased the likelihood that children engaged in early detection and/or primary prevention behaviors. Examining the information conveyed to at-risk family members, and whether such information motivated them to engage in early detection/prevention behaviors, is key to guiding better cancer prevention communication between doctors and patients.

Mouth examination performance by children's parents and by adolescents in Fanconi anemia

“…If the adolescents perceive themselves to be susceptible to cancer, and believe that cancer has potentially serious consequences, engaging in early detection would be easier . In this study, two adolescents reported using alcohol and tobacco.…”

Barriers to risk-understanding and risk-reduction behaviors among individuals with a family history of melanoma

“…Rates of screening behaviors (both self-screening and physician screening) are also relatively low among family members of melanoma survivors. Despite recommendations that individuals with a family history of melanoma receive regular full-body skin examinations (for both Barriers to risk-understanding & risk-reduction behaviors in individuals with a history of melanoma REviEW future science group www.futuremedicine.com the at-risk and high-risk groups) and perform monthly self-skin examinations (for the highrisk group) [28], studies have found that as many as 70% of first-degree relatives of melanoma patients had not performed a self-skin examination and 45% had never had a total cutaneous examination by a healthcare provider [22,29].…”

Mother–Daughter Dyad Recruitment and Cancer Intervention Challenges in an African American Sample

“…Recent cancer interventions have demonstrated promise for the inclusion of family communication in targeted cancer education efforts [18, 19]. More specifically, the use of upward communication (i.e., communication from child to adult) has been identified as a potential channel for the delivery of health information within minority families [20, 21].…”