Prostate cancer: Effects of interval between diagnosis and time of survey
July 21st, 2009 Posted in prostate cancer diagnosisA recent study at Department of Psychology, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia aimed to determine whether time since diagnosis affected patients’ evaluations of the information they had received at the time of their diagnosis.
Previous data indicate that receiving adequate information about their cancer can assist patients to cope with treatment and comply with treatment regimes.
The study involved two hundred and thirty-seven patients who had received a diagnosis and treatment for prostate cancer 4 months earlier. They completed a questionnaire about their ratings of, and preferences for, various types of information, their anxiety and depression levels and some background data.
According to the study conclusion, time since diagnosis was associated with elevated anxiety and depression, and consequent lower recall of having received information, but also with positive inflation of the value of the material that they did recall having received. Patients may not recall information given to them early after diagnosis and may make unreliable evaluations of its value to them due to psychological state.