Use of psychosocial support services among male Veterans Affairs colorectal cancer patients.

The authors describe use of psychosocial services within +/- 3 months of diagnosis among male colorectal cancer (CRC) patients treated within the Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system. Analysis included 1,199 patients with CRC treated at 27 VA medical centers primarily diagnosed between the periods 2005 to 2007. Of the patients, 78.6% received some form of psychosocial support, including 50.5% social work, 58.9% chaplain, 6.2% psychologist, 7.1% psychiatry, 3.5% mental health nurse, and 4.4% other. Logistic regression results indicate that rectal cancer patients were less likely to receive psychosocial services (odds ratio = .65, 95% confidence interval [0.43, 0.97]). The majority of patients in the VA receive some type of psychosocial service at the time of CRC diagnosis.