How breast cancer patients are perceived: Effects of treatment method, age, and time since surgery

Abstract

AbstractThree hundred undergraduate students read one of 12 vignettes about a hypothetical breast cancer patient, completed the Profile of Mood States (POMS) as they thought she would, and completed a questionnaire (Perception of Medical Patients Questionnaire; PMPQ) designed to elicit their perceptions of her. Vignettes differed according to time since surgery (5 days, 3 months, or 15 months), treatment method (lumpectomy with radiation or mastectomy) and age of the patient (32 or 62 years). As predicted, patients whose surgery occurred most recently were viewed as more distressed than the other patients. Subjects perceived mastectomy patients to have greater sexual problems, be more likely to need counselling, and to be more embarrassed than lumpectomy patients. On the other hand, patients treated with lumpectomy and radiation were rated higher on an index of fatigue than were mastectomy patients. No differences between treatment method were found in terms of the amount of additional emotional support patients would need. Subjects expected younger patients to survive longer and look less ill, but the predicted differences between older and younger patients in terms of likelihood of sexual adjustment problems was not found.