[Screening for mental stress and the wish for psychological support in patients with breast cancer].
OBJECTIVE
The study explores whether breast-cancer patients who request psychosocial support have higher psychological strain compared to those who do not. We also explored whether scores on HADS-D and PHQ-D identify the same patients as being stressed as well as the relationship between patient's wish for psychological support and psychological strain.


METHODS
115 inpatients with breast cancer took part in the screening and were asked if they wanted psychosocial support.


RESULTS
Above-normal scores in anxiety and depression are reported by 25-29%, with 41% indicating a wish for psychosocial support. These patients showed significantly higher scores on the questionnaires. Their request for psychosocial support shows a similar sensitivity (.733) and specificity (.662) as the "Distress-Thermometer" or "PO-Bado".


CONCLUSIONS
The desire for psychosocial support appears to be a valuable piece of additional information for indicating psychosocial support. However, HADS-D and PHQ-D agree only in 77% of the individual patients.
Schäffeler
Norbert
N
Universitätsklinikum Tübingen, Abteilung Innere Medizin VI-Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie, Osianderstr. 5, 72076 Tübingen. norbert.schaeffeler@med.uni-tuebingen.de
Enck
Paul
P
Riessen
Ines
I
Seitz
Diana
D
Marmé
Alexander
A
Wallwiener
Diethelm
D
Zipfel
Stephan
S
D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000523:psychology*; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012944:Social Support; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*