The cancer worry chart: a single‐item screening measure of worry about developing breast cancer

AbstractBackground: Brief pictograph measures of health functioning have clinical value to office‐based practice. Many women with a close family history of breast cancer will experience worry about their risk of developing breast cancer that influences decision‐making and can interfere with health‐related functioning.Purpose: To develop a clinically ‐ useful triage measure of breast cancer worry for the field setting of office based practice.Methods: Design: qualitative pilot testing followed by mailed survey. Survey sample: women registered with the Cancer Genetics Network who have a first or second‐degree family history of breast cancer and no personal history of any cancer. Novel measure: single pictograph item modeled upon the Dartmouth COOP Charts. Comparison gold‐standard measure: four‐item Cancer Worry Scale (CWS).Results: Pilot testing: participants found the item to be easily understood, rapidly completed and unobtrusive. Quantitative: 469 women responded (78% response rate); the Cancer Worry Chart demonstrated strong correlation to the CWS (Pearson correlation coefficient: 0.66, P < 0.001); Receiver operator curve identified favorable characteristics (AUC = 0.86) of the Cancer Worry Chart for identifying cancer worry‐related mood or social role dysfunction.Conclusions: The new Cancer Worry Chart is a valid triage measure for breast cancer worry. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.