The impact of a brief coping skills intervention on adherence to breast self-examination among first-degree relatives of newly diagnosed breast cancer patients

The present investigation sought to determine (1) the impact of a single se ssion stress management/coping intervention (problem-solving training; PST) versus a general health counseling (GHC) control condition on breast self- examination (BSE) adherence among relatives of newly diagnosed breast cance r patients, and (2) whether women with heightened perceived risk of breast cancer and/or cancer specific distress at baseline were more likely to impr ove their BSE adherence following PST. The participants were 510 women age 20-75 who had at least one first-degree relative with breast cancer. All of the participants completed a baseline telephone interview, an intervention (PST versus GHC), and a 3-month follow-up telephone interview. The results revealed a 36%, overall improvement in BSE adherence, with no significant between-group difference in improvement (chi(2) = 0.03, p = 0.87). The logi stic regression analysis of improvement in BSE adherence revealed a statist ically significant cancer-specific distress by treatment interaction (p = 0 .04). Among women who received PST, those with high levels of cancer-specif ic distress were two times more likely to improve in BSE adherence than wom en low in cancer-specific distress. There was no effect of cancer-specific distress in the control condition. These results suggest that women with a family history of breast cancer who have high levels of distress may be mos t likely to benefit from behavioral coping skills intervention to promote a dherence to breast cancer screening. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.