Attendance at cancer follow-up clinic: does it increase anxiety or provide reassurance for men successfully treated for testicular cancer?

This cross-sectional descriptive study examined the meaning of the cancer follow-up clinic for men who have been successfully treated for testicular cancer. The sample of 62 men were selected using a nonprobability quota sampling method before attendance at a routine testicular cancer follow-up clinic within the Directorate of Clinical Oncology, Western General Hospitals NHS Trust, Edinburgh, Scotland. Subjects were given four instruments to complete immediately before seeing the doctor in the clinic, and two instruments to complete on day 8 after the clinic appointment. Instruments included the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), a demographic questionnaire, and two Likert scales adapted for use in the study: the Common Concerns about Testicular Cancer questionnaire and the Psychological Consequences of Screening questionnaire (PCQ). Results demonstrated that men attending the clinic exhibit low levels of anxiety at the points measured, but gain a great deal of reassurance from the clinic visit. Results also demonstrated the areas of concern about testicular cancer and its management that influence anxiety in the follow-up clinic.