Abstract
Purpose
Unrecognised psychological distress among cancer survivors may be identified using short screening tools. We validated the accuracy of the distress thermometer (DT) to detect psychological distress on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) among early stage gynaecological cancer survivors and whether the women’s DT and HADS scores were associated with the need of an individualised supportive intervention.
Methods
One hundred sixty-five gynaecological cancer survivors answered DT and HADS before randomisation in a trial testing a nurse-led, person-centred intervention using supportive conversations. The number of conversations was decided in the woman-nurse dyad based on the woman’s perceived need. Nurses were unaware of the women’s DT and HADS scores. We validated DT’s accuracy for screening using HADS as gold standard and receiver operating characteristic curves. Associations between DT and HADS scores and the number of conversations received were investigated.
Results
For screening of distress (HADS ≥ 15), a DT score ≥ 2, had a sensitivity of 93% (95% CI 82–98%), a specificity of 40% (32–49%), and positive and negative predictive values of 36% (28–45%), and 94% (84–98%), respectively; area under curve was 0.73 (0.64–0.81). Higher DT and HADS scores were associated with more interventional conversations.
Conclusions
In gynaecological cancer survivors, DT may perform fairly well as a first stage screening tool for distress, but a second stage is likely needed due to a high number of false positives. DT and HADS scores may predict the number of supportive conversations needed in an individualised intervention in gynaecological cancer survivors.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Mitchell AJ, Ferguson DW, Gill J, Paul J, Symonds P (2013) Depression and anxiety in long-term cancer survivors compared with spouses and healthy controls: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Oncol 14:721–732
Boyes AW, Girgis A, D'Este C, Zucca AC (2011) Flourishing or floundering? Prevalence and correlates of anxiety and depression among a population-based sample of adult cancer survivors 6 months after diagnosis. J Affect Disord 135:184–192
Boyes AW, Girgis A, D'Este CA, Zucca AC, Lecathelinais C, Carey ML (2013) Prevalence and predictors of the short-term trajectory of anxiety and depression in the first year after a cancer diagnosis: a population-based longitudinal study. J Clin Oncol 31:2724–2729
Ferrandina G, Petrillo M, Mantegna G, Fuoco G, Terzano S, Venditti L et al (2014) Evaluation of quality of life and emotional distress in endometrial cancer patients: a 2-year prospective, longitudinal study. Gynecol Oncol 133:518–525
Mantegna G, Petrillo M, Fuoco G, Venditti L, Terzano S, Anchora LP et al (2013) Long-term prospective longitudinal evaluation of emotional distress and quality of life in cervical cancer patients who remained disease-free 2-years from diagnosis. BMC Cancer 13:127–134
Hodgkinson K, Butow P, Fuchs A, Hunt GE, Stenlake A, Hobbs KM et al (2007) Long-term survival from gynecologic cancer: psychosocial outcomes, supportive care needs and positive outcomes. Gynecol Oncol 104:381–389
Kim SH, Kang S, Kim YM, Kim BG, Seong SJ, Cha SD et al (2010) Prevalence and predictors of anxiety and depression among cervical cancer survivors in Korea. Int J Gynecol Cancer 20:1017–1024
Mirabeau-Beale KL, Kornblith AB, Penson RT, Lee H, Goodman A, Campos SM et al (2009) Comparison of the quality of life of early and advanced stage ovarian cancer survivors. Gynecol Oncol 114:353–359
Osann K, Hsieh S, Nelson EL, Monk BJ, Chase D, Cella D et al (2014) Factors associated with poor quality of life among cervical cancer survivors: implications for clinical care and clinical trials. Gynecol Oncol 135:266–272
Han X, Lin CC, Li C, de Moor JS, Rodriguez JL, Kent EE et al (2015) Association between serious psychological distress and health care use and expenditures by cancer history. Cancer 121:614–622
Fallowfield L, Ratcliffe D, Jenkins V, Saul J (2001) Psychiatric morbidity and its recognition by doctors in patients with cancer. Br J Cancer 84:1011–1015
Holland JC, Andersen B, Breitbart WS, Buchmann LO, Compas B, Deshields TL et al (2013) Distress management. J Natl Compr Cancer Netw 11:190–209
Donovan KA, Grassi L, McGinty HL, Jacobsen PB (2014) Validation of the distress thermometer worldwide: state of the science. Psychooncology 23:241–250
Carlson LE (2013) Screening alone is not enough: the importance of appropriate triage, referral, and evidence-based treatment of distress and common problems. J Clin Oncol 31:3616–3617
Olesen ML, Hansson H, Ottesen B, Thranov IR, Thisted LB, Zoffmann V (2015) The psychosocial needs of gynaecological cancer survivors: a framework for the development of a complex intervention. Eur J Oncol Nurs 16:349–358
Olesen ML, Duun-Henriksen AK, Hansson H, Ottesen B, Andersen KK, Zoffmann VA (2016) Person-centered intervention targeting the psychosocial needs of gynecological cancer survivors: a randomized clinical trial. J Cancer Surviv 10:832–841
Bidstrup PE, Mertz BG, Dalton SO, Deltour I, Kroman N, Kehlet H et al (2012) Accuracy of the Danish version of the ‘distress thermometer. Psychooncology 21:436–443
Zigmond AS, Snaith RP (1983) The hospital anxiety and depression scale. Acta Psychiatr Scand 67:361–370
Snaith RP, Zigmond AS (1994) The hospital anxiety and depression scale manual. The United Kingdom, GL assessment
Vodermaier A, Millman RD (2011) Accuracy of the hospital anxiety and depression scale as a screening tool in cancer patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Support Care Cancer 19:1899–1908
Harrell FE Jr (2001) Regression modeling strategies: with applications to linear models, logistic regression, and survival analysis. Springer-Verlag, New York
Core Team R (2015) R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna
Robin X, Turck N, Hainard A, Tiberti N, Lisacek F, Sanchez JC et al (2011) pROC: an open-source package for R and S+ to analyze and compare ROC curves. BMC Bioinformatics 12:77–85
Dorai-Raj S (2014) Binom: binomial condence intervals for several parameterizations.R package version 1:1–1
Harrell Jr FE. RMS: regression modeling strategiesR package version 4.3–1; 2015
Christensen RHB. Ordinal - regression models for ordinal data.R package version; 2015:1–21
Petrie A, Sabin C (2009) Medical Statistics at a Glance, Third edn. Wiley-Blackwell, United Kingdom, pp 115–117
Carlson LE, Waller A, Mitchell AJ (2012) Screening for distress and unmet needs in patients with cancer: review and recommendations. J Clin Oncol 30:1160–1177
Zoffmann V, Hornsten A, Storbaekken S, Graue M, Rasmussen B, Wahl A et al (2016) Translating person-centered care into practice: a comparative analysis of motivational interviewing, illness-integration support, and guided self-determination. Patient Educ Couns 99:400–407
Thalen-Lindstrom A, Larsson G, Hellbom M, Glimelius B, Johansson B (2013) Validation of the distress thermometer in a Swedish population of oncology patients; accuracy of changes during six months. Eur J Oncol Nurs 17:625–631
Tuinman MA, Gazendam-Donofrio SM, Hoekstra-Weebers JE (2008) Screening and referral for psychosocial distress in oncologic practice: use of the distress thermometer. Cancer 113:870–878
Mitchell AJ (2007) Pooled results from 38 analyses of the accuracy of distress thermometer and other ultra-short methods of detecting cancer-related mood disorders. J Clin Oncol 25:4670–4681
Lambert SD, Kelly B, Boyes A, Cameron A, Adams C, Proietto A et al (2014) Insights into preferences for psycho-oncology services among women with gynecologic cancer following distress screening. J Natl Compr Cancer Netw 12:899–906
Funding
This study was funded by the Danish Cancer Society grant no. R62-A3824-12-S3, the Health Foundation grant no. 2013B109, the Danish Cancer Research Fund, Juliane Marie Centre and the Research Fund of Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, and The Danish Nurses’ Organisation Nursing Research Fund.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
We have full control of all data and agree to allow the journal to review these on requests.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
Electronic supplementary material
ESM 1
(DOCX 26 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Olesen, M.L., Hansen, M.K., Hansson, H. et al. The distress thermometer in survivors of gynaecological cancer: accuracy in screening and association with the need for person-centred support. Support Care Cancer 26, 1143–1150 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-017-3935-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-017-3935-x