Associations of practical, emotional, and physical problems with psychosocial distress among cancer patients. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • OBJECTIVE: To better understand the relationship between cancer patient distress and psychosocial variables, including problem types, to improve ability to predict and address psychosocial need. METHODS: A variation of National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Distress Thermometer (DT) was administered and collected at four sites from an Integrated Network Cancer Program (INCP). The presence of moderate/severe distress was examined relative to patient demographics, disease characteristics, and psychosocial problems. RESULTS: Distress scores were positively correlated with all problem counts. For every count increase of practical, emotional, and physical problems, and for every cancer stage increase the odds of reporting a moderate/severe distress score was significantly higher. Relative to patients with one cancer treatment type, patients with three cancer treatment types were significantly less likely to report moderate/severe distress. CONCLUSION: Problem count could be a useful indicator for clinical intervention. Stage and number of treatment types may also be considered clinically relevant distress predictors.

published proceedings

  • J Psychosoc Oncol

author list (cited authors)

  • Flanagan, M. W., Goltz, H. H., Henson, J. W., & Smith, M. L.

citation count

  • 2

complete list of authors

  • Flanagan, Mark William||Goltz, Heather H||Henson, John W||Smith, Matthew Lee

publication date

  • January 2022