Budden, Lea, Hayes, Barbara, and Buttner, Petra (2005) Women's decision making styles and levels of distress related to the selection of surgical treatment for early breast cancer. In: North Queensland Cancer Forum. From: North Queensland Cancer Research Forum, 11 November 2005, Townsville, QLD, Australia.

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Abstract

When women are diagnosed with early breast cancer, they are often asked by their surgeons to choose between mastectomy, or breast conservation surgery with accompanying radiation therapy. Following diagnosis women are often distressed, vulnerable and confused about how to make this treatment decision. More information is required about how women choose this decision so that future evidence-based interventions can be further developed and evaluated. This study used a prospective, longitudinal cohort design using a sample of 132 women to investigate their decision styles, distress levels, and decision satisfaction relating to early breast cancer treatment selection, during three times over six months. Due the large data set and limited space, this poster presentation will only discuss the results of the women’s decision-making styles and distress levels from the first data collection, which occurred prior to their initial breast cancer surgery. Data were collected using the Michigan Decision Styles Questionnaire (MADS)1and the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18)2. The data collection sites included Townsville, Cairns and Brisbane. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The mean age of the women were 58 years and 22% obtained a high score on the Distress Global Severity Index. Only 0.8% scored high of the MADS factor of Avoidance, 7.6% for Information Seeking, 12.9% on Deliberation and 16.7% on Deferring Responsibility. When women are in the process of discussing and choosing a treatment plan with the surgeon their distress levels seem to be reduced. Most women prefer to be involved in choosing a treatment option with their surgeon and do not want to spend large amounts of time trying to find other information to help them make this decision.

Item ID:	8644
Item Type:	Conference Item (Poster)
Date Deposited:	26 Jul 2010 04:04
FoR Codes:	11 MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES > 1110 Nursing > 111003 Clinical Nursing: Secondary (Acute Care) @ 100%
SEO Codes:	92 HEALTH > 9202 Health and Support Services > 920210 Nursing @ 100%
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