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Spiritual Coping, Family History, and Perceived Risk for Breast Cancer—Can We Make Sense of it?

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Journal of Genetic Counseling

Differences in spiritual beliefs and practices could influence perceptions of the role of genetic risk factors on personal cancer risk. We explored spiritual coping and breast cancer risk perceptions among women with and without a reported family history of breast cancer. Analyses were conducted on data from 899 women in primary care clinics who did not have breast cancer. Structural equation modeling (SEM), linear, and logistic modeling tested an interaction of family history of breast cancer on the relationship between spiritual coping and risk perceptions. Overall analyses demonstrated an inverse relationship between spiritual coping and breast cancer risk perceptions and a modifying effect of family history. More frequent spiritual coping was associated with lower risk perceptions for women with positive family histories, but not for those with negative family histories. Results support further research in this area that could influence communication of risk information to cancer genetic counseling patients.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of Dr. Elizabeth Fries, a dear friend, expert psychologist, and co-Principal Investigator on the project through which data were collected. Dr. Fries died before the manuscript was developed, but the work would not have been possible without her contribution. Data collected for these analyses was supported by a grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (R01 CA94213).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, 1101 E. Marshall Street, Richmond, Virginia, 23298-0033, USA

    John M. Quillin & Joann N. Bodurtha

  2. Department of Biostatistics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA

    Donna K. McClish

  3. Department of Epidemiology & Community Health, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA

    Resa M. Jones

  4. Massey Cancer Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA

    John M. Quillin, Donna K. McClish, Resa M. Jones, Karen Burruss & Joann N. Bodurtha

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  1. John M. Quillin
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Correspondence to John M. Quillin.

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Quillin, J.M., McClish, D.K., Jones, R.M. et al. Spiritual Coping, Family History, and Perceived Risk for Breast Cancer—Can We Make Sense of it?. J Genet Counsel 15, 449–460 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10897-006-9037-4

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