Systematic screening of distress: Portraits and cross-examination of the various stakeholders’ perceptions, clinical perspectives, and research—Part 2

<p class="p1">In our study’s first phase, which dealt with the screening of distress in breast or hematological cancer patients and was the topic of Part 1 of this article (Tremblay et al., 2017), we painted a portrait of the distress of these two groups of participants. We highlight...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Nicole Tremblay, Odette Roy, Aurélie Lecocq
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Pappin Communications 2017-10-01
Series:Canadian Oncology Nursing Journal
Online Access:https://canadianoncologynursingjournal.com/index.php/conj/article/view/832
Description
Summary:<p class="p1">In our study’s first phase, which dealt with the screening of distress in breast or hematological cancer patients and was the topic of Part 1 of this article (Tremblay et al., 2017), we painted a portrait of the distress of these two groups of participants. We highlighted that although nearly 34% (33.9%) of our sample (N=532 participants) reached a clinical score of 5 or more on the Distress Thermometer (DT), only a low percentage (22.7%) wished to receive help with problems expressed in the screening process. This somewhat low percentage dropped further at Time 2 (14.7%). This DT score justified a more targeted assessment of the distress. This was also the case for the following results: slightly over 1 in 4 patients (26.6%) displayed an Edmonton Symptom Assessment System (ESAS) score superior or equal to 5 for anxiety at Time 1, and 18.4% did at Time 2. For depression, 9.4% of patients scored higher or equal to 5 at Time 1, and 9.5% did at Time 2. These situations should prompt further exploration, generally by a psycho-oncologist.</p>
ISSN:1181-912X
2368-8076