Demonstrating the psychometric properties of a problem-related distress screener in a community sample of 319 cancer survivors.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose was to test the psychometric properties of a 36-item community-based problem-related distress screening tool, among 319 cancer survivors recruited across 14 affiliates of the Cancer Support Community.


METHODS
Internal reliability was estimated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Test-retest reliability was assessed using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC). Concurrent validity was determined by correlations with the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General Well-Being Scale (FACT-G), the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), and the Distress Thermometer (DT) and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis using the CES-D (≥16) and DT (≥4) as the criterion. Non-parametric analysis of variance was used to establish discriminant validity.


RESULTS
The distress screener demonstrated high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.91) and strong test-retest reliability (ICC ≥ 0.75). Summary scores of the distress screener correlated substantially with the FACT-G (R(2) = 0.58, p < 0.001), CES-D (R(2) = 0.48, p < 0.001), and DT (R(2) = 0.35, p < 0.001) indicating strong concurrent validity and were able to discriminate groups of clinical relevance. ROC analyses showed a cutoff score of 8 for problem items rated ≥3 had optimal sensitivity and specificity relative to the CES-D and DT.


CONCLUSIONS
The distress screener shows strong psychometric properties and can be considered a valuable community-based instrument to screen for psychological distress related to social, emotional, physical, and other patient-related symptoms and problems. This study is the first to address the chasm between hospital and community-based screening by validating a community-based instrument and has begun to demonstrate the feasibility of screening in the community.
Cancer Support Community Research and Training Institute, Philadelphia, PA 19131, USA.
Melissa F
MF
Miller
Joanne S
JS
Buzaglo
Karen L
KL
Clark
Matthew J
MJ
Loscalzo
Victoria
V
Kennedy
Julie
J
Taylor
Kasey Ryan
KR
Dougherty
Mitch
M
Golant
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000592:standards; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D017741:Survivors