Prevalence of distress, its associated factors and referral to support services in people with cancer.
Deborah Kirk, Istvan Kabdebo, Lisa Whitehead
PMID 33942939WHAT IT FOUND
Among 1,071 people with cancer contacting a support line, 91% scored 4 or higher for distress and 56% scored 7 or higher.
Worry, fear, sadness, depression and lack of control over treatment decisions were common and associated with higher distress.
Key findings
01A total of 1,071 people accessed the cancer support line, and 91% reported a distress score of 4 or higher, including 56% with severe distress (score 7 or higher); the sample was mainly female (70%) and aged 50 to 69 years (51.35%).
02The most common problems were worry (81.51%), fear (57.42%), sadness (56.4%), sleep problems (40.8%) and concern about treatment decisions (37.44%); depression, sadness, lack of control over treatment decisions and worry were associated with higher distress.
03Most referrals were to emotional health services (41.92%), informational services (20.26%) and practical services (14.75%). Among low-distress people, worry was 3.63 times more likely to be linked to moderate distress, and financial or insurance problems were more than 15 times more likely to be linked to practical service referral.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study included only people who contacted the support line, so it may not represent people with cancer who did not seek support. It was cross-sectional, so it cannot show whether problems caused distress or distress made problems more likely. Comorbidity outside cancer was not recorded, so other health conditions may have influenced distress. Ethnicity was not recorded consistently, so the sample's background may not be clear. The remoteness categories were assigned using older data, so service access may have been mischaracterised. The setting was Western Australia, so findings may not apply elsewhere.
Declared interests
No conflicts of interest were declared. The data came from the Cancer Council Western Australia support service database.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these high distress rates as evidence that all people with cancer are severely distressed, or that referral reduced distress. The people studied had sought support, and the design did not follow them after referral.