Early detection of cancer through population and risk-based screening is known to improve treatment and survivorship outcomes. However, screening participation is reported to be sub-optimal both internationally and in Australia. Anticipatory anxiety, encompassing fear, worry, stress, and nervousness, has been reported as a barrier to screening for some individuals, while for others it can act as a motivator. Being able to accurately assess anticipatory anxiety is therefore seen as a critical step in identifying which individuals may require additional education or psychosocial support to engage in recommended screening programs.
This talk will investigate how anticipatory anxiety can interact with factors at both the individual and system level. It will incorporate results from a recent study examining patient-reported experiences of participation in a liver cancer screening pathway. The talk will also explore how key constructs of anticipatory anxiety including: general cancer-related anxiety; procedural related anxiety; and diagnosis-related anxiety have previously been assessed, and discuss potential strengths and limitations of these approaches.
Results from a recent systematic review will examine how well existing measures are assessing anticipatory anxiety related to cancer screening. Potential considerations for accurately measuring anticipatory anxiety and determining helpful versus harmful anxiety will be discussed. Approaches for how screening anxiety could be accurately assessed across cancer types to allow for procedural differences, while still allowing comparisons across screening programs will also be proposed.
Ultimately, accurate identification of anticipatory anxiety as either a barrier or motivator of cancer screening will be determined by the quality of the measures available to assess it, and will play an important role in establishing care pathways so that individuals who are most in need of support in relation to screening receive it.