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  • Measuring distress in cancer patients: The Distress Thermometer in an Australian sample

    Author(s)
    Campbell, A
    Steginga, SK
    Ferguson, M
    Beeden, A
    Walls, M
    Cairns, W
    Dunn, J
    Griffith University Author(s)
    Chambers, Suzanne K.
    Dunn, Jeffrey
    Year published
    2009
    Metadata
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    Abstract
    Purpose: To evaluate the use of the Distress Thermometer in an Australian population using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) as the criterion measure for case detection. Patients and methods: A cross-sectional survey of 439 cancer patients (61.2% response) under current medical care at a regional tertiary cancer centre was undertaken. Assessments included general distress, anxiety and depression, general health and well-being, cancer-specific distress, social support, and social constraints. The screening properties of the Distress Thermometer were evaluated against cases identified using the full-scale scores ...
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    Purpose: To evaluate the use of the Distress Thermometer in an Australian population using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) as the criterion measure for case detection. Patients and methods: A cross-sectional survey of 439 cancer patients (61.2% response) under current medical care at a regional tertiary cancer centre was undertaken. Assessments included general distress, anxiety and depression, general health and well-being, cancer-specific distress, social support, and social constraints. The screening properties of the Distress Thermometer were evaluated against cases identified using the full-scale scores of the HADS as has been done previously. In addition, we used the separate scores on the depression and anxiety scales to evaluate the utility of the Distress Thermometer in detecting cases of anxiety only, depression only, and depression and anxiety together. Results: The sensitivity and specificity of the Distress Thermometer with the HADS full scale were found to be similar to that of previous research. Use of the sub-scale scores of the HADS to detect cases led to some differences in the Distress Thermometer performance. In particular, detection of cases of depression only was quite poor. The positive predictive value (PPV) of the HADS generally and specifically was noted to be problematic. Conclusions: Although we obtained similar results to previous research, our results suggested that caution may need to be exercised when using the Distress Thermometer as a screening instrument. It may not be as effective a screen for depression symptoms and has a high rate of false positives.
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    Journal Title
    Progress in Palliative Care
    Volume
    17
    Issue
    2
    DOI
    https://doi.org/10.1179/096992609X392259
    Subject
    Psychology not elsewhere classified
    Nursing
    Public Health and Health Services
    Publication URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/10072/30745
    Collection
    • Journal articles

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