The Self-Regulatory Model (SRM)

The Self-Regulatory Model (SRM) [1-4] is a cognitive-affective model that highlights the existence of both emotional components as well as cognitive components; both of these components alter the perception of disease threat and influence each other. It is the emotional element that distinguishes the SRM from other theoretical models which explain the perception of disease and treatment and which only take the cognitive and/or behavioral component in consideration (e.g., Health Belief Model, Theory of Reasoned Action, Theory of Planned Behavior). This parallel cognitive and emotional processing of the menace implied by the disease recommends using this model in studying cancer, an emotionally challenging disease for the patient and their entire

At the same time, the disease can lead to family crisis, changing family dynamics and roles („a family-centered model”-bibliogr). The patients and their families must continuously adjust to threats to their own identity: at first, when they receive the diagnosis, and later, to the treatment, to various physical symptoms, and to emotional distress. This adjustment is considered by the Common Sense Model of Self-Regulation, in which the patient with cancer is considered to be actively seeking and processing information about the disease, building his/her own cognitive and emotional representations with regard to the disease, and finally selecting and applying those coping procedures that will help him/her face the threat of disease [14,15]. If the adjustment efforts that focus on the problem or on emotions are inadequate or inappropriate, individuals will experience fear or worry, according to Leventhal’s Common Sense Model of Self-Regulation, which originally did not include worry and risk perception; these concepts were later included in the extended versions of the self-regulation framework

In this context, Claassen [18] believes that most people with a family history of a disease have at least some beliefs and knowledge about their own risk of developing that particular disease. According to the Self-Regulation Model, these beliefs generate a cognitive-emotional model of one’s own risk of disease or of illness representations by means of which individuals process information and act.

The results of a study conducted on women with no history of cancer show that the perceived risk of breast cancer is associated with the type of cancer found in first-degree relatives and with the relationship of the subject to the family member affected by cancer (mother, sister, or both mother and sister); women with a history of breast cancer on the mother`s side recorded an increase in the number of mammograms in the past 6 years, compared to the women with no history of breast cancer on the mother's