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Distress screening and supportive care referrals used by telephone-based health services: a systematic review

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Abstract

Purpose

People affected by chronic diseases such as cancer report high levels of distress and a need for psychosocial support. It is unclear whether telephone-based services for people affected by chronic disease are a practical setting for implementing distress screening, referral protocols and rescreening to direct supportive care where it is needed. This systematic review aimed to describe the published literature regarding distress screening and supportive care referral practices in telephone-based services for people affected by chronic diseases such as cancer.

Methods

A systematic literature search of MEDLINE, Embase, PsycInfo, CINAHL, Cochrane and Scopus was conducted in February 2018. Included quantitative studies involved: patients or caregivers affected by chronic diseases including cancer and describe a health service assessing psychosocial needs or distress via telephone. Extracted data included the type of cancer or other chronic disease, sample size, screening tool, referral or rescreening protocols, and type of health service.

Results

The search identified 3989 potential articles with additional searches returning 30 studies (n = 4019); fourteen were eligible for full-text review. Of the 14 studies, 13 included cancer patients. Studies were across multiple settings and identified nine distress screening tools in use.

Conclusion

The reviewed studies indicate that validated distress-screening tools are being used via telephone to identify distress, particularly in relation to cancer. Screening-driven supportive care referrals are also taking place in telephone-based services. However, not all services use an established referral protocol. Ongoing rescreening of callers’ distress is also limited despite it being an important recommendation from psycho-oncology guidelines.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Ms. Emma Byrnes for her valuable input reviewing the draft.

Funding

The study was funded by the Priority Research Centre for Health Behaviour and Hunter Cancer Research Alliance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle, Level 4 West, HMRI Building, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia

    Jo Taylor, Elizabeth A Fradgley, Della Roach & Chris L Paul

  2. Priority Research Centre for Health Behaviour, Level 4 West, HMRI Building, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia

    Jo Taylor, Elizabeth A Fradgley, Tara Clinton-McHarg, Della Roach & Chris L Paul

  3. Priority Research Centre for Cancer Research Innovation and Translation, Level 4 West, HMRI Building, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia

    Jo Taylor, Elizabeth A Fradgley, Tara Clinton-McHarg & Chris L Paul

  4. Cancer Institute New South Wales, Level 9, 8 Central Ave, Australian Technology Park, Eveleigh, NSW, 2015, Australia

    Elizabeth A Fradgley

  5. School of Psychology, University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia

    Tara Clinton-McHarg

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  1. Jo Taylor
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  2. Elizabeth A Fradgley
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Contributions

Jo Taylor, Elizabeth A Fradgley, Tara Cinton-McHarg and Chris L Paul contributed to the study conception and research question for the review. Jo Taylor performed the literature search. Della Roach acted as second coder for abstract and full text review screening. Data extraction and coding was conducted by Jo Taylor, Elizabeth A Fradgley, Tara Cinton-McHarg and Chris L Paul. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Jo Taylor and Elizabeth A Fradgley, Tara Cinton-McHarg and Chris L Paul commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jo Taylor.

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The authors did not collect any primary data or undertake research activities that involved human participants or animals in completing this review; therefore, primary data is not available.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Taylor, J., Fradgley, E.A., Clinton-McHarg, T. et al. Distress screening and supportive care referrals used by telephone-based health services: a systematic review. Support Care Cancer 28, 2059–2069 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-019-05252-8

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