Abstract
Background. Distress of cancer patients is often left unnoticed and it induces various problems: it is harder for patients to adjust to the illness, the quality of life is poorer, it causes much distress for the team of oncologists. 1 year before in the VU Institute of Oncology the Distress Thermometer was started to be used for all patients in the hospital.
Purpose. To explore distress prevalence and features of cancer patients’ in the hospital.
Participants and methods. There were 488 participants. The Distress Thermometer (DT) was used to evaluate distress of the participants. DT consists of a Likert type scale from 0 to 10 that assesses the strength of experienced distress, and a problem list that includes practical, family, emotional, spiritual and physical problem groups.
Results. The mean score of distress of all participants was 3.47 (SD = 2.47). 82% of participants pointed from 0 to 5 scores, 18% of participants indicated from 6 to 10 scores. There was a statistically significant corellation between the distress score and the number of problems (r = 0.43, p < 0.01). The mean number of problems was 1.95 (SD = 2.60). The most frequent problems were anxiety (31.6%), fears (20.5%), fatigue (16.8%), nervousness (15.2%), etc. The mean score of women distress (4.07) was significantly higher that that of men (2.68) (p < 0.001). The younger the participants, the higher the distress was (r = –0.13, p < 0.01). The patients of surgical treatment pointed higher distress (M = 3.98) than the patients of therapeutic treatment (M = 2.51) (p < 0.01).
Conclusions. 1/5 of patients experience high distress. Women experience higher distress and problems than men. Patients in surgical treatment experience higher distress and emotional problems than patients in therapeutic treatment. DT is a very optimal method to assess the distress of cancer patients but the results need to be cautiously evaluated.
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Most read articles by the same author(s)
-
Vilma Balčiuvienė,
Asta Burčiuvienė,
Mathias Haarhaus,
Jurgita Uogintaitė,
Asta Janavičienė,
Lina Santockienė,
Jurgita Mitrikevičienė,
Loreta Aleknienė,
Danutė Keinaitė,
Waning Humoral Response 6 Month after Double Vaccination with the mRNA-BNT162b2 Vaccine in Hemodialysis Patients
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 30 No. 1 (2023): Acta medica Lituanica
-
Dovilė Ruzgienė,
Meda Sutkevičiūtė,
Birutė Burnytė,
Kristina Grigalionienė,
Augustina Jankauskienė,
Reverse Phenotyping Maternal Cystic Kidney Disease by Diagnosis in a Newborn: Case Report and Literature Review on Neonatal Cystic Kidney Diseases
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 28 No. 2 (2021): Acta medica Lituanica
-
Marija Svetikienė,
Dainius Trybė,
Marius Strioga,
Jevgenija Veželienė,
Viktoras Isajevas,
Radvilė Malickaitė,
Laimutė Jurgauskienė,
Donata Ringaitienė,
Mindaugas Šerpytis,
Juratė Šipylaitė,
Impact of Immunonutrition on T Cell Activation: A Randomized Control Study in Cardiac Surgery Patients
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 28 No. 2 (2021): Acta medica Lituanica
-
Domas Grigoravičius,
Edvardas Žurauskas,
Vygantas Gruslys,
Rolandas Zablockis,
Edvardas Danila,
Case of Severe Treatment-Resistant Cryptogenic Organizing Pneumonia
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 28 No. 2 (2021): Acta medica Lituanica
-
Jekaterina Byčkova,
Justė Simonavičienė,
Vaiva Mickevičienė,
Eugenijus Lesinskas,
Evaluation of quality of life after paediatric cochlear implantation
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 25 No. 3 (2018)
-
Gabrielė Žiūkaitė,
Marta Jasaitė,
Sigitas Chmieliauskas,
Diana Vasiljevaitė,
Sigitas Laima,
Dalius Banionis,
Jurgita Stasiūnienė,
Homicides Disguised as Fire Deaths
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 30 No. 1 (2023): Acta medica Lituanica
-
Domas Grigoravičius,
Laura Šiaulienė,
Žydrūnė Visockienė,
Unrecognized Primary Hypoparathyroidism with Severe Hypocalcemia in the Presence of COVID-19 Infection
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 29 No. 1 (2022): Acta medica Lituanica
-
Aistė Aleknaitė,
Monika Andrijauskaitė,
Kazys Simanauskas,
Gintarė Siradzė,
Diabetinės neuropatijos problema ir gydymo ypatumai
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 22 No. 3 (2015)
-
Bünyamin Tosunoğlu,
Sıddıka Sena Dilek,
Ümmühanı Emektar,
Tahir Kurtuluş Yoldaş,
Creutzfeldt–Jakob Disease with Stroke-Like Symptoms: Case report
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 29 No. 2 (2022): Acta medica Lituanica
-
Veselin DICKOV,
The aspect of brands and marketing development in pharmaceutical industry
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 19 No. 2 (2012)