Fear of new or recurrent melanoma after treatment for localised melanoma

Katy J L Bell; Yachna Mehta; Robin M Turner; Rachael L Morton; Mbathio Dieng; Robyn Saw; Pascale Guitera; Kirsten McCaffery; Donald Low; Cynthia Low; Marisa Jenkins; Les Irwig; Angela C Webster

doi:10.1002/pon.4366

Fear of new or recurrent melanoma after treatment for localised melanoma

Psychooncology. 2017 Nov;26(11):1784-1791. doi: 10.1002/pon.4366. Epub 2017 Feb 2.

Authors

Katy J L Bell^{1

2}, Yachna Mehta³, Robin M Turner⁴, Rachael L Morton⁵, Mbathio Dieng^{1

6}, Robyn Saw^{7

8

9}, Pascale Guitera^{7

10

11}, Kirsten McCaffery¹, Donald Low¹², Cynthia Low¹², Marisa Jenkins¹, Les Irwig¹, Angela C Webster¹

Affiliations

¹ The School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
² Center for Evidence Based Practice, Bond University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.
³ Australia New Zealand Melanoma Trials Group, Melanoma Institute Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁴ School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁵ NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁶ Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁷ Melanoma Institute Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁸ Discipline of Surgery, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
⁹ Division of Surgery, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
¹⁰ Discipline of Dermatology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
¹¹ The Sydney Melanoma Diagnostic Centre, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.
¹² Cancer Voices NSW, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

PMID: 28052599
DOI: 10.1002/pon.4366

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the amount of fear of new or recurrent melanoma among people treated for localised melanoma in an Australian specialist centre.

Methods: We randomly selected 400 potential participants from all those treated for localised melanoma at the Melanoma Institute Australia during 2014 (n = 902). They were asked to complete an adapted version of the Fear of Cancer Recurrence Inventory (FCRI). We calculated summary statistics for demographics, clinical variables and total FCRI and subscale scores.

Results: Two hundred fifteen people (54%) completed the FCRI questionnaire. The overall mean severity subscale score was 15.0 (95% CI 14.0-16.1). A high proportion of participants had scores above a proposed threshold to screen for clinical fear of cancer recurrence (77% and 63% of participants with and without new or recurrent melanoma had severity subscale scores ≥13). Most participants also had scores above a threshold found to have high specificity for clinical fear of cancer recurrence (65% and 48% of participants with and without new or recurrent melanoma had severity subscale scores ≥16). The severity subscale appeared to discriminate well between groups with differing levels of risk of new or recurrent melanoma.

Conclusions: There is a substantial amount of fear of new or recurrent melanoma among this population, despite most having a very good prognosis.

Keywords: cancer; fear; melanoma; oncology; recurrence; surveys and questionnaires.

MeSH terms

Adult
Australia
Fear*
Female
Humans
Male
Melanoma / pathology
Melanoma / psychology*
Middle Aged
Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / pathology
Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / psychology*
Prognosis
Skin Neoplasms / pathology
Skin Neoplasms / psychology*
Surveys and Questionnaires