title: Assessment of distress with physical and psychological symptoms of patients in german palliative care services.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Within the framework of the nationwide Hospice and Palliative Care Evaluation (HOPE), the German Basic Documentation for Psycho-oncology (PO-Bado) was used from 2004 to 2006 as an optional module in most participating palliative care services to investigate how patient distress due to symptom burdens in different palliative care settings should be assessed and how professional interventions could be derived.
  
  
  METHODS
  The distress scores of 3,317 PO-Bado records out of a total of 6,958 consecutive participants from 3 yearly samples of HOPE were evaluated descriptively and compared with a reference sample of cancer patients from both general and university hospitals.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The relative values of distress from physical and psychological symptoms were 0.57 and 0.37 (maximum of 1.0), respectively. In 38.2% of the patients, professional psychosocial interventions were indicated. Compared to the reference sample of cancer patients, palliative care patients clearly showed more specific physical distress, but psychological symptoms were varied; in particular, distress from cognitive impairment, helplessness and grief showed higher intensities in palliative care patients than in the reference group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The PO-Bado rating scales assessed high levels of distress, particularly from physical symptoms, in palliative care patients. A large percentage of palliative care patients required professional psychosocial support.
authors.affiliation: Klinik Dr. Hancken GmbH, Zentrum für Strahlentherapie, Hämato-Onkologie, Palliativmedizin, Harsefelder Strasse 8, Stade, Germany. neuwoehner@hancken.de
authors.forename: Karl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Neuwöhner
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lindena
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology