Attendance of men at the familial cancer clinic: what they value from the consultation.

Purpose: This study examined what men from high-risk breast/ovarian cancer families valued from attending a familial cancer clinic.

Methods: One hundred men from families with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation completed a self-administered questionnaire.

Results: Seventy- two percent (72%) of men attended the familial cancer clinic at the request of a family member. Multivariate analyses showed that men with a preference for a collaborative decision-making style (B = -4.651, 95% CI = -9.014 to -0.289, P = 0.04), those with lower levels of education (B = -4.850, 95% CI = -9.16 to -0.537, P = 0.03), and those with higher levels of cancer-related anxiety (intrusion) (B = 0.920, 95% CI = 0.441-1.399, P < 0.001) were more likely to value emotional support from the clinic. Men with a collaborative decision-making style (B = -2.68, 95% CI = -4.91 to -0.467, P = 0.02) were less likely, and those with higher total levels of cancer-related anxiety (intrusion and avoidance) (B = 0.393, 95% CI = 0.008-0.779, P = 0.04) were more likely to value receiving information from the clinic.

Conclusions: A preference for collaborative decision making and cancer-related anxiety predicted men valuing information and emotional support from the consultation. The finding that men's attendance is initiated by family members highlights the value men place on family responsibility.