Distress has been recognized as the 6th vital sign in cancer. Screening for distress has engendered attention in clinical settings as a strategy for identifying, through self-report, what patients are most concerned about during a clinic visit and having a conversation about what interventions would be helpful. Recently, interest has been expressed from community–based cancer support organizations about the relevancy of screening for distress in their settings. The purpose of this project was to develop and field-test a distress screening approach in community settings.
The project utilized a literature review to identify relevant screening tools for a community-based setting. Focus groups with patients/survivors, volunteers, and staff members of community-based agencies were held to explore the idea of distress screening in their setting. A new approach to distress screening was designed based on the feedback and implemented in three community organizations.
The literature contains many standardized tools to identify distress. During focus group discussions, participants were very clear about what would be suitable for application in the community-based setting, especially given their philosophy of creating an inviting, supportive and home-like environment. The distress screening approach we designed is embedded in a conversation rather than a paper-based or computer generated survey. Items cited for distress rating or measurement are crafted for the community-setting and include issues apt to be of concern to patients/survivors in that environment. Pilot sites were able to incorporate the screening measurement approach effectively in their member intake and follow-up procedures.
This presentation will highlight the literature and focus group findings, describe the new approach to screening and outline the early experience with implementing the new distress screening approach.