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

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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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Kentucky College of Nursing, 501 E-2 College of Nursing Building, Lexington, KY, 40536, USA

    Amanda T. Wiggins

  2. Ovarian Screening Research Program, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, 331 E. Whitney-Hendrickson Women’s Care Facility, Lexinton, KY, 40536-0293, USA

    Edward J. Pavlik

  3. Department of Behavioral Science, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, 133 Medical Behavioral Science Building, Lexington, KY, 40536-0086, USA

    Michael A. Andrykowski

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  1. Amanda T. Wiggins
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  2. Edward J. Pavlik
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Correspondence to Amanda T. Wiggins.

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Amanda T. Wiggins, Edward J. Pavlik, and Michael A. Andrykowski declares that they do not have any conflict of interest.

Human and animal rights and informed consent

All procedures followed were in accordance with ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000. Informed consent was obtained from all patients for being included in the study.

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Wiggins, A.T., Pavlik, E.J. & Andrykowski, M.A. Affective, cognitive and behavioral outcomes associated with a false positive ovarian cancer screening test result. J Behav Med 40, 803–813 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-017-9851-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10865-017-9851-1

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