Exposure to asbestos: Psychological responses of mesothelioma patients

Abstract

Thirty-eight patients with a diagnosis of malignant mesothelioma participated in a semi-structured interview to evaluate asbestos exposure, acquisition of increased risk information, and retrospective reporting of cognitive and behavioral reactions (particularly smoking behavior) to risk information. Twenty-eight patients (74%) had direct occupational contact with asbestos, and six patients (16%) reported indirect nonoccupational exposure to asbestos. Only two (10%) of the directly exposed patients acquired risk information from professional sources prior to diagnosis of mesothelioma. The most frequently reported reaction to learning of increased risk of cancer was a denial of the risk by minimizing personal exposure. Few patients reported being concerned about the information of increased risk. Smoking behavior did not change as a result of risk information, nor was there any increase in visits to physicians. Guidelines for psychosocial management of at-risk groups are recommended.

Effects of informing workers of their health risks from exposure to toxic materials

“…It is interesting that, even among the asbestosis group, fewer than half indicated that they had an illness that they associated with their work. This is consistent with Lebovits et al's [1983] finding that the most frequently reported reaction of workers to learning of their increased health risk from asbestos exposure was to minimize how much they, personally, were at risk. The smoking rate of 38% among control-group respondents is slightly lower than national figures of approximately 41 % for white males from 25-64 years of age found in the 1980 National Health Interview Survey [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 19841.…”

Living with mesothelioma. A literature review

“…Only five papers reporting qualitative studies exploring aspects of the patient experience of mesothelioma were identified (Lebovits et al 1981(Lebovits et al , 1983Hawley et al 2004;Clayson et al 2005, Hughes & Arber 2008. Only five papers reporting qualitative studies exploring aspects of the patient experience of mesothelioma were identified (Lebovits et al 1981(Lebovits et al , 1983Hawley et al 2004;Clayson et al 2005, Hughes & Arber 2008.…”

Factors associated with cancer distress in the Asbestos Post‐Exposure Survey (APEXS)

“…Results of these studies seemed to indicate that informing asbestos-exposed workers induced only limited psychological distress. The lack of observed psychological distress in these studies is generally explained by the use of denial as a coping mechanism for chronic occupational exposure [Lebovits et al, 1983;Meyerowitz, 1993]. Interestingly, but different findings emerged from a study conducted by Lebovits et al [1988] in 129 asbestosexposed workers compared to a group of postal workers.…”

“…Severe psychological distress has been reported in workers who developed serious medical consequences such as mesothelioma as a result of work-related exposure [Lebovits et al, 1983]. In another study, Barak et al [1998] conducted a psychiatric assessment of 12 workers screened for asbestos-related disease following the death of four colleagues from mesothelioma.…”