Predictive testing for hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer: motivation, illness representations and short-term psychological impact

Living with Hereditary Non‐polyposis Colorectal Cancer; Experiences from and Impact of Genetic Testing

“…The main motives for undergoing genetic diagnostics of HNPCC are hopes for early detection of cancer, knowledge about the children's risks, and reduction of uncertainty with the latter motive being linked to a reduced stress, particularly for non-carriers (Claes et al,;Esplen et al, 2001;Vernon, 1999). Cancer cases in the family, frequent cancer thoughts, and a better ability to cope with unfavourable results have been linked to the uptake in genetic testing (Codori et al, 1999;Loader et al, 2002).…”

Monitoring coping style moderates emotional reactions to genetic testing for hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer: a longitudinal study

“…The reductions in fear among mutation-positive individuals can be related to the notion that uncertainty is even more distressing than being identified as a carrier. In fact, distress levels decreased from before to after testing more among individuals for whom reducing uncertainty was an important motive for wanting a predictive HNPCC test [30]. Furthermore, uninformative results in genetic testing for breast and ovarian cancer genes resulted in higher anxiety and depression than positive results [31], and in less reassurance than negative results [32].…”

“…High monitors may be especially likely to opt for predictive genetic testing for cancer because of their threat-related vigilance and information-seeking style [39][40][41][42]. However, the paradox is that they are those most adversely affected by it: high monitors were found more likely than low monitors to experience distress when provided with information about increased genetic risk for cancer or in response to indeterminate results [30,40,[43][44][45][46][47][48]. Accordingly, we expected that high monitors testing for HNPCC would show higher distress levels in general, and especially when receiving positive or indeterminate results.…”

Psychological Impact and Associated Factors After Disclosure of Genetic Test Results Concerning Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer

“…A high level of satisfaction was associated with the experience of testing. Claes et al (2004) assessed the short-term impact (1month after test result disclosure) of genetic testing using a semi-structured interview and self-reported questionnaires. The subjects were 40 cancer-unaffected relatives who had undergone predictive testing for HNPCC.…”