TY - JOUR
T1 - Disease disclosure patterns among breast cancer patients
AU - Henderson, Brent
AU - Davison, Kathryn
AU - Pennebaker, James
AU - Gatchel, Robert
AU - Baum, Andrew
N1 - Funding Information:
This article is based on the doctoral dissertation of Brent N. Henderson, under the direction of Robert J. Gatchel at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. Preparation of this manuscript was supported in part by a center grant from the NIH for the Pittsburgh Mind-Body Center #HL65111 and HL65112.
PY - 2002/2
Y1 - 2002/2
N2 - Inhibition or disclosure of traumatic or stressful experiences may affect psychological and physical well-being. Although a diagnosis of cancer can be a source of considerable stress, the extent to which cancer patients disclose their cancer has not been previously documented. In the present study, 299 women with breast cancer reported how much and with whom they discussed their cancer in the month following their diagnosis, reported disclosure attitudes, and completed psychological measures. Seven percent reported little or no disclosure to anyone besides their spouse or doctor, while 20-30% reported little or no disclosure to entire subgroups of their social network (family, friends, and health professionals). Degree of disclosure was consistent across social targets. Greater disease disclosure was predicted by younger participant age, greater disease severity, optimism, stress-related growth, and disclosure-oriented attitudes.
AB - Inhibition or disclosure of traumatic or stressful experiences may affect psychological and physical well-being. Although a diagnosis of cancer can be a source of considerable stress, the extent to which cancer patients disclose their cancer has not been previously documented. In the present study, 299 women with breast cancer reported how much and with whom they discussed their cancer in the month following their diagnosis, reported disclosure attitudes, and completed psychological measures. Seven percent reported little or no disclosure to anyone besides their spouse or doctor, while 20-30% reported little or no disclosure to entire subgroups of their social network (family, friends, and health professionals). Degree of disclosure was consistent across social targets. Greater disease disclosure was predicted by younger participant age, greater disease severity, optimism, stress-related growth, and disclosure-oriented attitudes.
KW - Cancer
KW - Disclosure
KW - Inhibition
KW - Optimism
KW - Secrecy
KW - Stress-related growth
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0036004458&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/08870440290001520
DO - 10.1080/08870440290001520
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0036004458
SN - 0887-0446
VL - 17
SP - 51
EP - 62
JO - Psychology and Health
JF - Psychology and Health
IS - 1
ER -