Desire for Children and Distress in Women with Hereditary Cancer Syndromes

Anna Maria Kastner (), Hatice Kübra Kocak, Josefine Fischer-Jacobs, Andrea Hahne and Tanja Zimmermann
Additional contact information
Anna Maria Kastner: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany
Hatice Kübra Kocak: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany
Josefine Fischer-Jacobs: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany
Andrea Hahne: BRCA-Netzwerk e.V., Thomas-Mann-Street 40, 53111 Bonn, Germany
Tanja Zimmermann: Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Straße 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 21, 1-9

Abstract: The diagnosis of a hereditary cancer syndrome can be psychologically stressful and influence family planning. This study aimed to gain insights into the relationship between the desire for children and the distress of female carriers. Women ( N = 255) with different hereditary cancer syndromes were assessed from November 2019 to July 2021 at genetic counseling centers, the centers of the German HBOC-Consortium and the centers of the German HNPCC-Consortium regarding their distress levels with the NCCN Distress Thermometer (DT). The desire for children was measured by self-developed questions. Levels of distress and desire for children were evaluated descriptively. Factors influencing the desire for children and distress were calculated using binary logistic regression: 56% ( n = 51) of 18- to 39-year-old participants reported a desire to have children; 70.6% of the carriers with a desire for children indicated a need for advice from their physicians regarding family planning. The diagnosis led 61.5% to postpone the timing of family planning, and the majority (68.8%) opted for an earlier birth. Carriers had higher levels of distress. Younger carriers ( p = 0.037) and those living in poorer economic circumstances ( p = 0.011) were more distressed. The diagnosis of hereditary cancer syndrome affects family planning. The results emphasize the importance of physicians addressing family planning in their counseling sessions.

Keywords: psycho-oncology; tumor disposition syndrome; hereditary cancer syndrome; distress; desire to have children (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/14517/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/21/14517/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:21:p:14517-:d:964006

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().