Does interpretation bias moderate the relationship between pain and fear of cancer recurrence?

Health Psychology, Vol 41(11), Nov 2022, 874-883; doi:10.1037/hea0001217Objective: The Cancer Threat Interpretation model proposes that clinically significant fear of cancer recurrence/progression (FCR/P) can occur when people misinterpret ambiguous physical symptoms as a sign of recurrence. The aim of this research is to test whether interpretation biases moderate the relationship between pain and FCR/P in women with breast cancer, as predicted. Method: One hundred forty-seven women with breast cancer completed questionnaire measures of demographic and medical information, FCR/P, interpretation bias, and symptom burden, as well as other known predictors of FCR/P. Results: Women with clinically significant levels of FCR/P were more likely to interpret ambiguous words as health-related and experienced more pain than women with levels of FCR/P in the nonclinical range. FCR was associated with both pain (r = .40, p
Source: Health Psychology - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research