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Selective Attention and Fear of Cancer Recurrence in Breast Cancer Survivors

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

Background

Anxious people show an attentional bias towards threatening information.

Purpose

It was investigated whether an attentional bias exists for cancer-related stimuli in breast cancer survivors and if different levels of fear of cancer recurrence would lead to different patterns of selective attention.

Methods

Breast cancer survivors with high (n = 35) and low (n = 32) fear of cancer recurrence were compared to 40 healthy female hospital employees. Specificity of attentional biases was investigated using a modified Emotional Stroop Task. Self-report measures were used to assess depression and anxiety, feelings of fatigue, and experienced traumas.

Results

Compared to control participants, breast cancer survivors with both high and low levels of fear of cancer recurrence showed increased interference for cancer-related words, but not for other word types.

Conclusions

The findings suggest a specific attentional bias for cancer-related words in breast cancer survivors that is independent of level of fear of cancer recurrence.

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Author(s) Statement of Conflict of Interest and Adherence to Ethical Standards

Author Custers, Author Becker, Author Gielissen, Author van Laarhoven, Author Rinck and Author Prins declare that they have no conflict of interest. All procedures, including the informed consent process, were conducted in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Psychology 840, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    J. A. E. Custers MSc, M. F. M. Gielissen PhD & J. B. Prins PhD

  2. Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    E. S. Becker PhD & M. Rinck PhD

  3. Department of Medical Oncology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    H. W. M. Van Laarhoven PhD

  4. Department of Medical Oncology, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    H. W. M. Van Laarhoven PhD

Authors
  1. J. A. E. Custers MSc
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  2. E. S. Becker PhD
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  3. M. F. M. Gielissen PhD
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  4. H. W. M. Van Laarhoven PhD
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  5. M. Rinck PhD
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  6. J. B. Prins PhD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to J. A. E. Custers MSc.

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Custers, J.A.E., Becker, E.S., Gielissen, M.F.M. et al. Selective Attention and Fear of Cancer Recurrence in Breast Cancer Survivors. ann. behav. med. 49, 66–73 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-014-9632-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-014-9632-9

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