Evento: 37th Annual Conference of the European Health Psychology Society – Ehps 23
Bremen, 4-8 Settembre
Contributo: Body awareness, health anxiety, emotional regulation in preventive choices: a preliminary study on colorectal screening
Autori: Daniela Lemmo, Maria Luisa Martino, Marcella Bianchi, Anna Rosa Donizetti, Maria Francesca Freda, Daniela Caso
Abstract: Cancer screening programs identify risks of diseases in asymptomatic subjects. Adopting a bio-psycho-social approach, the screening participation represents for health psychology a scientific challenge centered on understanding the psychosomatic and emotional factors connected to engagement in health choices.In recent years, the construct of body awareness emerged as an important factor in determining self-care health behaviors. Furthermore, it has been observed that health anxiety contributes to determine health behaviors, use of health care services, and decisions to engage in screening behaviors; for this reasons, an individual’s emotional regulation style may also be significant. This contribution aims to analyze and discuss the associations between the aforementioned clinical variables and some psychosocial factors concerning the relationship with colorectal screening, i.e. the affective and cognitive attitude towards it, the intention to undergo it, and the perceived control on the screening behavior. A convenience sample of 145 subjects belonging to the target population of colorectal screening participated in an online survey containing a questionnaire created ad hoc with the purpose of detecting the variables of interest; the data were then analyzed using the SPSS software. The results show, on the one hand, a positive correlation between body awareness, healthy habits, disease phobia and perception of behavioral control; on the other, a positive correlation between cognitive re-evaluation, cognitive attitude, and intention to undergo colorectal screenings. Furthermore, a negative correlation between reappraisal and affective attitude emerged. These results, although still preliminary, seem to suggest interesting links between individual psychosomatic profiles, affective regulation, and participation in cancer screenings.