TY - JOUR
T1 - Emotional distress in Portuguese cancer patients
T2 - the use of the emotion thermometers (ET) screening tool
AU - Silva, Sónia
AU - Paredes, Tiago
AU - Teixeira, Ricardo João
AU - Brandão, Tânia
AU - Dimitrovová, Klára
AU - Marques, Diogo
AU - Sousa, Joana
AU - Leal, Monick
AU - Dias, Albina
AU - Neves, Carole
AU - Marques, Graciete
AU - Amaral, Natália
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 by the authors.
PY - 2023/10
Y1 - 2023/10
N2 - Cancer patients may experience significant distress. The “Emotion Thermometers” (ETs) are a short visual analogue scale used to screen patients for psychosocial risk. This study aimed to assess emotional distress in a large sample of cancer patients attending psychological services at an non-governmental organization (NGO), and to explore factors that may contribute to it. The ETs were answered by 899 cancer patients. They were, on average, 59.9 years old, the majority were female, had breast cancer, were under treatment or were disease-free survivors, and reported high levels of emotional distress, above the cut-off (≥5). A Generalized Linear Model was used to measure the association between the level of distress, age, gender, disease phase and 33 items of the problem list. Four items—sadness, depression, sleep and breathing—were found to be significantly related to a higher level of distress. Additionally, women and patients who were in the palliative phase also had significantly higher levels of distress. The results confirm the need for early emotional screening in cancer patients, as well as attending to the characteristics of each patient. Additionally, they highlight the utility of the ETs for the clinical practice, allowing to optimize the referral to specialized psychosocial services.
AB - Cancer patients may experience significant distress. The “Emotion Thermometers” (ETs) are a short visual analogue scale used to screen patients for psychosocial risk. This study aimed to assess emotional distress in a large sample of cancer patients attending psychological services at an non-governmental organization (NGO), and to explore factors that may contribute to it. The ETs were answered by 899 cancer patients. They were, on average, 59.9 years old, the majority were female, had breast cancer, were under treatment or were disease-free survivors, and reported high levels of emotional distress, above the cut-off (≥5). A Generalized Linear Model was used to measure the association between the level of distress, age, gender, disease phase and 33 items of the problem list. Four items—sadness, depression, sleep and breathing—were found to be significantly related to a higher level of distress. Additionally, women and patients who were in the palliative phase also had significantly higher levels of distress. The results confirm the need for early emotional screening in cancer patients, as well as attending to the characteristics of each patient. Additionally, they highlight the utility of the ETs for the clinical practice, allowing to optimize the referral to specialized psychosocial services.
KW - anxiety
KW - cancer
KW - depression
KW - distress thermometer
KW - emotion thermometer
KW - emotional distress
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85173827225&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/healthcare11192689
DO - 10.3390/healthcare11192689
M3 - Article
C2 - 37830726
AN - SCOPUS:85173827225
SN - 2227-9032
VL - 11
JO - Healthcare (Switzerland)
JF - Healthcare (Switzerland)
IS - 19
M1 - 2689
ER -