Logo image
Back
When good news are not enough: Predicting trauma-related symptoms and non-specific distress after negative and positive breast biopsy results
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

When good news are not enough: Predicting trauma-related symptoms and non-specific distress after negative and positive breast biopsy results

Justine Fortin, Ariane Paquin, Alexe Bilodeau-Houle, Roxanne Leblanc, Marie-Claude Lefebvre, Clarisse Defer, Irma Horna Perez, Alain Brunet and Marie-France Marin
International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, Vol.25(4), pp.1-9
2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijchp.2025.100649
Appears in  Thompson Institute Research Collection
pdf
1-s2.0-S1697260025001061-main1.41 MBDownloadView
Published Version Open Access CC BY-NC V4.0

Abstract

Breast cancer Distress Mental health Oncology Post-traumatic stress symptoms Psychiatry Trauma Other Collaborations Thompson Institute Special Collection
The disclosure of breast biopsy results, whether indicating cancer (positive) or not (negative), can be experienced as a psychologically distressing event and could involve perceived threat to life. As peritraumatic distress is a predictor of post-event psychological symptoms, its investigation in the context of breast cancer screening could improve early identification of individuals at risk for persistent distress. This study first examined the proportion of individuals exceeding the clinical threshold for post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and non-specific distress (DT) at 7 days and 1-month post-biopsy results. It then tested whether peritraumatic distress experienced at the time of the result disclosure predicted PTSS and DT at both timepoints. An exploratory objective assessed whether perceived life threat at disclosure predicted distress outcomes differently based on biopsy results. In a sample of 191 participants, 85.9% exceeded the PTSS threshold at 7 days and 73.6% at 1 month. In contrast, 12.3% exceeded the DT threshold at 7 days, and 8.5% at 1 month. Peritraumatic distress significantly predicted PTSS at 7 days (B = 0.44, SE = 0.16, t = 2.80, p = .006) and 1 month (B = 0.76, SE = 0.18, t = 4.26, p < .001), and DT at only 7 days (B = 0.08, SE = 0.03, t = 2.60, p = .010), regardless of diagnosis outcome. Exploratory analyses showed that perceived life threat at disclosure predicted PTSS at both timepoints, only among individuals with negative results (B = 6.59, SE = 2.03, 95% CI [2.58, 10.59], p < .001). These findings highlight that the screening process itself can be perceived as life-threatening, and that assessing peritraumatic distress at the time of biopsy results may help prevent lasting symptoms, even without a cancer diagnosis.

Details

Metrics

1 File views/ downloads
7 Record Views
Logo image