Beliefs motivate changes after cancer

PROVIDENCE, R.I., Aug. 11 (UPI) -- Breast cancer survivors' beliefs about what may have caused their cancer motivate lifestyle changes made after a cancer diagnosis, finds a U.S. study.

"We found that breast cancer survivors who believed that an unhealthy behavior -- such as consuming an unhealthy diet -- contributed to their cancer were more likely to say that they had changed that behavior since their diagnosis," says lead author Carolyn Rabin, a psychologist at The Miriam Hospital's Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine in Providence, R.I.

"Likewise, breast cancer survivors who believed that a healthy behavior, such as consuming a healthy diet, could ward off a cancer recurrence, were more likely to say that they had adopted that behavior since their diagnosis."

The findings, published in Psycho-Oncology, indicated that survivors who believed that unhealthy diet, insufficient exercise or alcohol consumption contributed to their cancer were more likely to modify the relevant behavior.