Affective, cognitive and behavioral outcomes associated with a false positive ovarian cancer screening test result

Amanda T. Wiggins, Edward J. Pavlik, Michael A. Andrykowski

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

While participation in cancer screening can facilitate early detection and improved prognosis, all screening tests yield some proportion of abnormal test results which are later determined benign. These false positive (FP) results can negatively impact affective, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes. Women participating in an ovarian cancer (OC) screening program receiving an abnormal screening test result (n = 375) were matched with women receiving normal results (n = 375). Both groups completed a baseline and 1- and 4-month follow-up assessments. FP test results were clearly associated with increased cancer-specific distress and increased perceptions of OC risk with more limited evidence for increased perceived positive consequences of screening and increased intentions to participate in future OC screening. FP OC screening test results negatively impact both affective and cognitive outcomes which may serve to reduce motivation to participate in future routine screening. The development and testing of brief, timely interventions to minimize this negative impact is warranted.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)803-813
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Behavioral Medicine
Volume40
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2017

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017, Springer Science+Business Media New York.

Keywords

  • Cancer screening
  • Cancer-specific distress
  • False-positive
  • Ovarian cancer
  • Perceived risk

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Psychology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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