Brief Distress Screening in Clinical Practice: Does it Help to Effectively Allocate Psycho-Oncological Support to Female Cancer Inpatients?

Hermelink, Kerstin; Höhn, Henrik; Hasmueller, Stephan; Gallwas, Julia; Haertl, Kristin; Wuerstlein, Rachel und Koehm, Janna (2014): Brief Distress Screening in Clinical Practice: Does it Help to Effectively Allocate Psycho-Oncological Support to Female Cancer Inpatients? In: Breast Care, Bd. 9, Nr. 2: S. 129-133

Abstract

BACKGROUND The usefulness of distress screening in cancer inpatient settings has rarely been investigated. This study evaluated a brief distress screening of inpatients in a breast cancer centre and a gynaecological cancer centre. PATIENTS AND METHODS Hospitalised patients with breast or gynaecological cancers were screened with the Distress Thermometer. Patients who scored above the cut-off, were referred by the medical staff, or self-referred were offered bedside psycho-oncological counselling. RESULTS Of 125 patients, 68 (54.4%) received an offer of counselling, and 62 patients (49.6%) accepted. Most of the counselling was induced by distress screening. Only 4 (3.2%) patients self-referred to the counselling service. Of the counselled patients, 65.8% stated that they had substantially benefited from psycho-oncological support; only 5.6% of the non-counselled patients indicated that they might have benefited from psycho-oncological support. CONCLUSION Almost all patients who will accept and benefit from psycho-oncological counselling can be identified if distress screening is used in conjunction with referrals by physicians and nurses. Distress screening is a worthwhile component in a framework of psycho-oncological support in a cancer inpatient setting. It paves the way to counselling for cancer inpatients who need it and are willing to accept it but hesitate to self-refer to psycho-oncological services.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Publikationsform: Publisher's Version
• Fakultät: Medizin
• Themengebiete: 600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften > 610 Medizin und Gesundheit
• ISSN: 1661-3791
• Allianz-/Nationallizenz: Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.
• Sprache: Englisch