Rees G, Fry A, Cull A
Medical Oncology Unit, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, UK.
Soc Sci Med. 2001 May;52(9):1433-40. doi: 10.1016/s0277-9536(00)00248-3.
Individuals at increased risk of developing breast cancer due to their family history of the disease face a number of uncertainties. Personal cancer risk estimates are imprecise and current methods for early detection or prevention are not 100% effective. It is therefore not surprising that adverse psychosocial outcomes have been described within this population. Research attempting to predict the incidence of distress and dysfunction in individuals at increased risk of cancer has been largely a-theoretical and has overlooked a number of potentially important predictive variables. In particular, the influence of personal experience of cancer through involvement with affected relatives has been neglected. There are strong theoretical grounds for hypothesising that dimensions of personal experience may influence response to cancer risk. This paper discusses the potential impact of personal experience on risk perception, illness representations and decision-making. Systematic research in this area may improve predictions of outcome of cancer genetic counselling and inform the clinical process.
由于家族病史而患乳腺癌风险增加的个体面临着诸多不确定性。个人癌症风险评估并不精确，而且目前的早期检测或预防方法并非100%有效。因此，在这一人群中出现不良心理社会后果也就不足为奇了。试图预测癌症风险增加个体的痛苦和功能障碍发生率的研究在很大程度上缺乏理论依据，并且忽略了一些潜在的重要预测变量。特别是，通过与患病亲属接触而获得的个人癌症经历的影响被忽视了。有充分的理论依据假设个人经历的维度可能会影响对癌症风险的反应。本文讨论了个人经历对风险认知、疾病表征和决策的潜在影响。该领域的系统研究可能会改善对癌症遗传咨询结果的预测，并为临床过程提供参考。
