Measurement of pessimism: hopelessness scale in healthy study subjects, and in patients with benign breast disease and breast cancer: a prospective case-control study in Finland.

BACKGROUND

A hopeful attitude is important for psychological well being, and hopelessness is associated with various chronic illnesses, including cancer. To the Authors' knowledge, the associations between hopelessness and the risk of breast cancer (BC) are rarely considered together in a prospective study.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In an extension of the Kuopio Breast Cancer Study, 115 women with breast symptoms were evaluated for hopelessness before any diagnostic procedures were carried out.

RESULTS

The clinical examination and biopsy showed BC in 34 patients, benign breast disease (BBD) in 53 patients, while 28 individuals were shown to be healthy study subjects (HSS). There was a trend for the BBD and BC group to report clearer hopelessness (18.9% and 20.6%, grade III hopelessness, respectively) than the patients in the HSS group (10.7%, grade III hopelessness). However, the mean sum of the hopelessness score for HSS, BBD and BC groups differed only slightly in other grades. There was a trend for the HSS, BBD and BC groups to 'understage' hopelessness. In the HSS group, no study subjects who reported grade III/IV hopelessness by the self-rating method (SRM) vs. 4/28 (14.3%) subjects of the HSS group reported grade III/IV hopelessness by the examiners rating method (ERM). In the BBD group 7/53 (13.2%) subjects reported grade III/IV hopelessness by the SRM vs. 12/53 (22.7%) subjects of the BBD group by the ERM. In the BC group, 2/34 (5.9%) subjects reported grade III/IV hopelessness by SRM vs. 8/34 (23.5%) subjects of the BC group by the ERM.

CONCLUSION

The results of this study show that patients with BC and BBD are at risk for hopelessness.