Participation in psychosocial group intervention among Japanese women withprimary breast cancer and its associated factors

Though psychosocial group intervention is considered in the West to be an i mportant source of support for reducing psychosocial distress in cancer pat ients, in Asian countries, there has been no research as yet on the needs f or such intervention. This study investigated the level of participation an d interest in psychosocial group intervention plus any associated factors i n 151 primary breast cancer patients. All were less than 65 years old at 4- 18 months post-surgery. Of the 126 subjects who responded (response rate 83 %), 53 (42%) participated (participants) and 73 (58%) did not (non-particip ants). Participation was greater among those with a high level of anxiety m easured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) (odds ratio [OR ], 3.25; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07-10.42), those who had undergone surgery within the last 12 months (OR, 3.10; 95% Cl, 1.35-7.55), and those who were 50-65 years old (OR, 3.08; 95% Cl, 1.33-7.66). Among the non-part icipants, 53 (73%) were interested in the intervention while 20 (27%) were not. Non-participants without any interest in the psychosocial group interv ention had significantly higher anxiety levels than those with interest (t = -2.08; df = 71; p = 0.03). These results suggest that most Japanese breast cancer patients who need ps ychological support can be sought out by asking whether they are willing to participate in a psychosocial group intervention. However, the minority no t interested in any psychological group intervention might need other suppo rts such as medication or individual psychotherapy. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.