Authors
Luigi Grassi, Christoffer Johansen, Maria Antonietta Annunziata, Eleonora Capovilla, Anna Costantini, Paolo Gritti, Riccardo Torta, Marco Bellani, Italian Society of Psycho‐Oncology Distress Thermometer Study Group
Publication date
2013/5/1
Journal
Cancer
Volume
119
Issue
9
Pages
1714-1721
Publisher
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company
Description
BACKGROUND
Routine screening for distress is internationally recommended as a necessary standard for good cancer care, given its high prevalence and negative consequences on quality of life. The objective of the current study was to contribute to the Italian validation of the Distress Thermometer (DT) to determine whether the single item DT compared favorably with referent criterion measures.
METHODS
In total, 1108 outpatients with cancer were recruited from 38 representative oncology centers in Italy. Each participant completed the DT and a list of 34 possible cancer‐related problems (the Problem List), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the 18‐item Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI‐18), and a short visual analog scale to determine the understandability of the tools.
RESULTS
Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that DT cutoff scores ≥4 and ≥5 had optimal sensitivity and …
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Scholar articles
L Grassi, C Johansen, MA Annunziata, E Capovilla… - Cancer, 2013