Anxiety-related attention bias among cancer patients : a metacognitive perspective

Abstract

Many cancer survivors live under a constant fear of cancer recurrence, which could lead to an array of emotional, cognitive and functional difficulties. Cognitive theories proposed that attentional biases towards threatening information served to maintain psychological disorders, but the presence and impact of attentional biases towards cancer-related information were relatively less studied. Meanwhile, there were also some preliminary evidence that dysfunctional metacognitions could further contribute to a fear of recurrence. Hence, the current study aimed to better understand the information processing mechanism, specifically the relationship between attentional bias and maladaptive metacognitions with patient’s fear of cancer recurrence. Twenty-four Chinese cancer patients were invited to complete questionnaires on their fears of cancer recurrence, metacognitive beliefs and emotional well-being. They also completed a dot probe task which assessed attentional biases towards cancer-related words. Results found that higher fear of recurrence was associated with stronger attentional bias towards cancer-threat, as well as having more maladaptive metacognitive beliefs. Study findings could have clinical implications on the psychological treatment of cancer patients with fears of cancer recurrence.