title: Brief Distress Screening in Clinical Practice: Does it Help to Effectively Allocate Psycho-Oncological Support to Female Cancer Inpatients?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The usefulness of distress screening in cancer inpatient settings has rarely been investigated. This study evaluated a brief distress screening of inpatients in a breast cancer centre and a gynaecological cancer centre.
  
  
  METHODS
  Hospitalised patients with breast or gynaecological cancers were screened with the Distress Thermometer. Patients who scored above the cut-off, were referred by the medical staff, or self-referred were offered bedside psycho-oncological counselling.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 125 patients, 68 (54.4%) received an offer of counselling, and 62 patients (49.6%) accepted. Most of the counselling was induced by distress screening. Only 4 (3.2%) patients self-referred to the counselling service. Of the counselled patients, 65.8% stated that they had substantially benefited from psycho-oncological support; only 5.6% of the non-counselled patients indicated that they might have benefited from psycho-oncological support.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Almost all patients who will accept and benefit from psycho-oncological counselling can be identified if distress screening is used in conjunction with referrals by physicians and nurses. Distress screening is a worthwhile component in a framework of psycho-oncological support in a cancer inpatient setting. It paves the way to counselling for cancer inpatients who need it and are willing to accept it but hesitate to self-refer to psycho-oncological services.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Kerstin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hermelink
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Höhn
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hasmüller
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gallwas
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Härtl
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Würstlein
authors.affiliation: Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics and Comprehensive Cancer Center, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Janna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Köhm
keywords: Counselling; Distress Thermometer; Distress screening; Psycho-Oncology; Psychosocial distress