Development and implementation of a comprehensive psychosocial screening program in a Brazilian cancer center

Abstract

The current study provides preliminary evidence that a multidisciplinary structured screening program utilizing validated measures and team meetings is associated with reduced impairment in patients' psychological well being. This program provided more opportunities for collaboration among providers with increased multidisciplinary meetings, enabled patients to more easily report problems, and ensured rapid access to relevant resources.

Effects on patient-reported outcomes of “Screening of Distress and Referral Need” implemented in Dutch oncology practice

“…Interestingly, we did find significant differences in the psychosocial domains of the DT&PL, the instrument used for screening and communication in the SDRN process. This result is comparable to three studies with a similar two-cohort pre-post implementation sequential design that also used the screening instrument assessing distress and/or cancer-specific symptoms and concerns as outcome measure [6][7][8]. A possible explanation is that completing and discussing the results of a screening instrument helped C2 respondents with their psychosocial problems.…”

“…However, no differences were found between the two patient groups in the level of distress, the spiritual and physical domains, and in referral wish, in QoL, anxiety, and depression, or in patients' satisfaction with care, indicating no beneficial effects of SDRN. Consequently, our results add to the mixed results reported in the literature that vary between a beneficial effect on patients' well-being, symptom burden, and on quality of care process measures [5][6][7][8] and no effect of distress screening on such outcomes [9,10].…”

“…However, the results reported in the literature on the effect of distress screening on patient-reported outcomes (PRO) are inconsistent. Results vary from significant benefits on primary outcomes, such as (aspects of) QoL, depression, anxiety, and/ or symptom burden (e.g., [5][6][7][8]), and secondary outcomes such as patient-care provider communication and quality of care, to no significant effects on such outcomes (e.g., [9,10]). No studies reported a negative effect of distress screening.…”

“…Some studies used a non-cancer-related questionnaire like the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale [11,12], while others used a cancer-specific questionnaire like the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer -Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC-QLQ) [13] or the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General (FACT-G) [14]. Some recent studies used the instrument used for screening as outcome measure [6][7][8]. To our knowledge, only one study [8] has reported results on the Distress Thermometer and the Problem List (DT&PL) as outcome measure although this instrument is used for screening worldwide [15,16].…”

“…Some recent studies used the instrument used for screening as outcome measure [6][7][8]. To our knowledge, only one study [8] has reported results on the Distress Thermometer and the Problem List (DT&PL) as outcome measure although this instrument is used for screening worldwide [15,16].…”