Psychological distress, health beliefs, and frequency of breast self-examination

Although monthly breast self-examination (BSE) is recommended for early bre ast cancer detection, most women do not comply. Few studies have examined t he impact of psychological distress on BSE frequency. Recent research sugge sts that it may be particularly important to examine the role of distress i n the recently identified phenomenon of BSE overperformance (>1/month). One hundred thirty-five healthy women with and without family histories of bre ast cancer completed sociodemographic, health belief general and cancer-spe cific psychological distress, and BSE frequency questionnaires. The central finding of the study was that BSE underperformance and overperformance had two distinct sets of predictors: health beliefs, specifically barriers aga inst BSE and low confidence in BSE performance, were related to BSE underpe rformance, while higher levels of psychological distress, particularly canc er-specific intrusive thoughts, were related to BSE overperformance. Findin gs underscore the need to evaluate BSE under- and overperformance separatel y and to develop problem-specific interventions to increase compliance with monthly BSE.