title: Screening for distress in cancer patients: the NCCN rapid-screening measure.
abstract: The present investigation evaluated the NCCN distress management screening measure (DMSM) in a sample of 68 mixed site cancer patients. The DMSM was administered with the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18). Convergent validity was established by the moderate positive correlation between the DMSM and the BSI and BSI-18 global severity indices (r=0.59, p<0.001 and r=0.61, p<0.001, respectively). Divergent validity was demonstrated by the lower correlations between the DMSM and the BSI subscales suggestive of psychopathology (e.g. paranoid ideation, obsessive-compulsive). Receiver operative characteristic (ROC) analyses demonstrated that the DMSM has moderate ability to detect distress identified by the BSI and the BSI-18 (area under curve=0.74, p<0.001 and 0.80, respectively, p<0.01, respectively). While the ROC curves suggested that the DMSM lacks a single cutoff that maximizes sensitivity and specificity, the use of multiple cutoffs renders the DMSM an effective and very rapid screen for distress among cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY 14263, USA.
authors.forename: Benson M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Hoffman
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Zevon
authors.forename: Mary C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: D'Arrigo
authors.forename: Tracy B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Cecchini
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires