Purpose Adequate, needs-oriented psycho-oncological care contributes to reducing psychological distress in cancer patients and their relatives and improving quality of life. Regarding the precise determination of objective and subjective needs, there are often discrepancies in practice between the screening instrument completed by patients, the clinical impression of the treatment team, and the judgment of the psycho-oncology team. Methods The present multicenter study “OptiScreen”, involving three German Comprehensive Cancer Centers (Hannover, Leipzig, Dresden), aims to professionalize psychosocial screening to enable targeted and needs-based allocation to psycho-oncological support. Optimization and professionalization of the screening process will be achieved by training of oncological nursing staff to improve the targeted identification of distressed patients and provide them with needs-based psycho-oncological care. The non-randomized pre-post study will include inpatients with gastrointestinal cancers from the visceral oncology centers at the three sites. First, the comparison group (CG) will be assessed of N = 300. After completion of nursing training, the intervention group (IG) with N = 600 patients will be evaluated by validated questionnaires. Results The aim is to reduce barriers on both the patient and treatment side by promoting interdisciplinary dialogue and linking the screening with a personal consultation offer provided by the nurses, which should help to increase utilization and reduce patients' fears, shame and information deficits. Conclusion It is not sufficient to establish a well-validated screening procedure, it also has to be feasible and useful in clinical practice. “OptiScreen” aims to improve the psycho-oncological care situation. In parallel, the study enables the professionalization of psycho-oncological care with the involvement of important professional groups (e.g. nursing) and thus aims to develop a “best practice model”.

Zusammenfassung Hintergrund Eine angemessene, bedarfsgerechte psychoonkologische Versorgung reduziert Depressivität und Ängste von Krebserkrankten sowie ihren Angehörigen und erhöht die Lebensqualität. Psychisch belastete Krebserkrankte werden jedoch nicht flächendeckend identifiziert, um ihnen psychoonkologische Unterstützung anzubieten. Screeningfragebögen haben sich zur Identifikation bewährt, allerdings bestehen bei der Anwendung im klinischen Alltag Hürden. Pflegekräfte haben durch ihren kontinuierlichen Kontakt zu Patient_innen, die vielfältigen klinischen Eindrücke und ihre Verbindung zu anderen Berufsgruppen eine Schlüsselrolle. Ziele Die OptiScreen-Schulung soll Pflegekräfte in der Onkologie zur Durchführung des Distress-Screenings befähigen, entsprechendes Expert_innenwissen vermitteln und Hürden sowie Unsicherheiten im Screeningprozess abbauen, um somit belastete Erkrankte zielgerichtet identifizieren und einer psychoonkologischen Versorgung zuführen zu können. Das Training Die OptiScreen-Schulung gliedert sich in drei Module à 1,5–2 h zu den Themen psychische Störungen bei Krebs, psychoonkologische Versorgung, psychische Belastung, Distress-Screening, Kommunikation im Screeningprozess und Psychohygiene (vermittelt durch Vorträge, Videos, Rollenspiele, Übungen). Ergebnisse und Diskussion Erste praktische Erfahrungen weisen auf eine erfolgreiche Umsetzung des Schulungskonzepts hin. Weitere Ziele sind es, den Wissenszuwachs und die zunehmende Sicherheit der Pflegekräfte im Screeningprozess zu stärken sowie die Effekte langfristig aufrechtzuerhalten. Zusätzlich soll die Schulung in verschiedenen Settings etabliert und die Auswirkungen der Schulung in Bezug auf die Informiertheit und Zufriedenheit der Patient_innen mit dem Screeningprozess untersucht werden.

Adequate, needs-oriented psycho-oncological care contributes to reducing psychological distress in cancer patients and their relatives and improving quality of life. Regarding the precise determination of objective and subjective needs, there are often discrepancies in practice between the screening instrument completed by patients, the clinical impression of the treatment team, and the judgment of the psycho-oncology team. The present multicenter-study “OptiScreen”, involving three German Comprehensive Cancer Centers (Hannover, Leipzig, Dresden), aims to professionalize psychosocial screening to enable targeted and needs-based allocation to psycho-oncological support. Optimization and professionalization of the screening process will be achieved by training of oncological nursing staff to improve the targeted identification of distressed patients and provide them with needs-based psycho-oncological care. The non-randomized pre-post study will include inpatients with gastrointestinal cancers from the visceral oncology centers at the three sites. First, the comparison group (CG) will be assessed of N = 300. After completion of nursing training, the intervention group (IG) with N = 600 patients will be evaluated by validated questionnaires. The aim is to reduce barriers on both the patient and treatment side by promoting interdisciplinary dialogue and linking the screening with a personal consultation offer provided by the nurses, which should help to increase utilization and reduce patients' fears, shame and information deficits. It is not sufficient to establish a well-validated screening procedure, it also has to be feasible and useful in clinical practice. "OptiScreen" aims to improve the psycho-oncological care situation. In parallel, the study enables the professionalization of psycho-oncological care with the involvement of important professional groups (e.g. nursing) and thus aims to develop a "best practice model".