Priority Research Centre for Health Behaviour, School of Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Health, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, New South Wales, 2308, Australia.
Support Care Cancer. 2013 Apr;21(4):1043-51. doi: 10.1007/s00520-012-1624-3. Epub 2012 Oct 24.
The objective of this study was to examine the likely presence of, and factors associated with, anxiety, depression and overall psychological distress in cancer outpatients undergoing radiation therapy treatment in Sydney, Australia.
A touchscreen computer survey was conducted in four radiation therapy treatment centre waiting rooms. Patients waiting to receive treatment completed the survey which included questions about demographic and disease characteristics, survey acceptability and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).
A total of 454 patients (70 %) completed the touchscreen computer survey. The likely presence of anxiety (HADS-A ≥11), depression (HADS-D ≥11) and overall psychological distress (HADS-T ≥15) was 15, 5.7 and 22 %, respectively. Cancer type was found to be associated with each HADS screening category. The majority of patients reported high survey acceptability and willingness to complete similar touchscreen computer surveys in the treatment centre waiting room on additional occasions.
As radiotherapy patients frequently attend the radiation oncology department, routine screening and intervention for elevated levels of psychological distress in this setting appears to be feasible. High survey completion rates and high patient-rated acceptability support this approach to screening. The likely presence of psychological distress is reported for this sample; however, the selection of HADS threshold scores is likely to have influenced the reported rates. Further research is needed to identify how cancer type impacts on likely caseness across the different HADS classifications examined.
本研究旨在调查澳大利亚悉尼癌症门诊接受放射治疗的患者中焦虑、抑郁和总体心理困扰的存在情况及其相关因素。
在四个放射治疗中心的候诊室进行了触屏电脑调查。等待接受治疗的患者完成了调查，其中包括人口统计学和疾病特征、调查可接受性以及医院焦虑和抑郁量表（HADS）的问题。
共有 454 名患者（70%）完成了触屏电脑调查。焦虑（HADS-A≥11）、抑郁（HADS-D≥11）和总体心理困扰（HADS-T≥15）的可能性分别为 15%、5.7%和 22%。癌症类型与每个 HADS 筛查类别有关。大多数患者报告调查接受度高，并愿意在治疗中心候诊室的其他场合多次完成类似的触屏电脑调查。
由于放疗患者经常到放射肿瘤科就诊，在这种环境下对心理困扰程度升高进行常规筛查和干预似乎是可行的。高的调查完成率和高的患者可接受性支持这种筛查方法。本样本报告了心理困扰的存在情况；然而，HADS 阈值分数的选择可能会影响报告的比率。需要进一步研究来确定癌症类型如何影响不同 HADS 分类中可能的病例数。
