Acceptability of the distress thermometer and problem list to community-based telephone cancer helpline operators, and to cancer patients and carers

Hughes, Karen L., Sargeant, Hilary and Hawkes, Anna L. (2011) Acceptability of the distress thermometer and problem list to community-based telephone cancer helpline operators, and to cancer patients and carers. BMC Cancer, 11 46: 1-8.


Author Hughes, Karen L.
Sargeant, Hilary
Hawkes, Anna L.
Title Acceptability of the distress thermometer and problem list to community-based telephone cancer helpline operators, and to cancer patients and carers
Journal name BMC Cancer  (ERA 2012 Listed)    (ERA 2010 Rank B)   Check publisher's open access policy
Publication date 2011-01-31
Sub-type Article
DOI 10.1186/1471-2407-11-46
Volume number 11
Issue number 46
ISSN 1471-2407
Start page 1
End page 8
Total pages 8
Place of publication London, U.K.
Publisher BioMed Central
Collection year 2012
Language eng
Formatted abstract Background: Cancer can be a distressing experience for cancer patients and carers, impacting on psychological, social, physical and spiritual functioning. However, health professionals often fail to detect distress in their patients due to time constraints and a lack of experience. Also, with the focus on the patient, carer needs are often overlooked. This study investigated the acceptability of brief distress screening with the Distress Thermometer (DT) and Problem List (PL) to operators of a community-based telephone helpline, as well as to cancer patients and carers calling the service.

Methods: Operators (n=18) monitored usage of the DT and PL with callers (cancer patients/carers, >18 years, and English-speaking) from September-December 2006 (n=666). The DT is a single item, 11-point scale to rate level of distress. The associated PL identifies the cause of distress.

Results: The DT and PL were used on 90% of eligible callers, most providing valid responses. Benefits included having an objective, structured and consistent means for distress screening and triage to supportive care services. Reported challenges included apparent inappropriateness of the tools due to the nature of the call or level of caller distress, the DT numeric scale, and the level of operator training.

Conclusions: We observed positive outcomes to using the DT and PL, although operators reported some challenges. Overcoming these challenges may improve distress screening particularly by less experienced clinicians, and further development of the PL items and DT scale may assist with administration. The DT and PL allow clinicians to direct/prioritise interventions or referrals, although ongoing training and support is critical in distress screening.
© 2011 Hughes et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Q-Index Code C1
Q-Index Status Confirmed Code
Institutional Status UQ
Additional Notes Publication date 31 January, 2011.

Document type: Journal Article
Sub-type: Article
Collections: Official 2012 Collection
School of Nursing and Midwifery Publications
 
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Created: Fri, 11 Feb 2011, 11:15:33 EST by Vicki Percival on behalf of School of Nursing and Midwifery