The validity of the distress thermometer in prostate cancer populations
Journal article
Chambers, Suzanne, Zajdlewicz, Leah, Youlden, Danny R., Holland, Jimmie C. and Dunn, Jeffery. (2014). The validity of the distress thermometer in prostate cancer populations. Psycho-Oncology. 23(2), pp. 195-203. https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.3391
Authors | Chambers, Suzanne, Zajdlewicz, Leah, Youlden, Danny R., Holland, Jimmie C. and Dunn, Jeffery |
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Abstract | Background: The Distress Thermometer (DT) is widely recommended for screening for distress after cancer. However, the validity of the DT in men with prostate cancer and over differing time points from diagnosis has not been well examined. Method: Receiver operating characteristics analyses were used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the DT compared with three commonly used standardised scales in two prospective and one cross-sectional survey of men with prostate cancer (n = 740, 189 and 463, respectively). Comparison scales included the Impact of Event Scale – Revised (IES-R, Study 1), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS, Study 2) and the Brief Symptom Inventory-18 (BSI-18, Study 3). Results: Study 1: the DT showed good accuracy against the IES-R at all time points (area under curves (AUCs) ranging from 0.84 to 0.88) and sensitivity was high (>85%). Study 2: the DT performed well against both the anxiety and depression subscales for HADS at baseline (AUC = 0.84 and 0.82, respectively), but sensitivity decreased substantially after 12 months. Study 3: validity was high for the anxiety (AUC = 0.90, sensitivity = 90%) and depression (AUC = 0.85, sensitivity = 74%) subscales of the BSI-18 but was poorer for somatization (AUC = 0.67, sensitivity = 52%). A DT cut-off between ≥3 and ≥6 maximised sensitivity and specificity across analyses. Conclusions: The DT is a valid tool to detect cancer-specific distress, anxiety and depression among prostate cancer patients, particularly close to diagnosis. A cut-off of ≥4 may be optimal soon after diagnosis, and for longer-term assessments, ≥3 was supported. |
Keywords | distress screening; prostate cancer; psychosocial care; distress thermometer |
Year | 01 Jan 2014 |
Journal | Psycho-Oncology |
Journal citation | 23 (2), pp. 195-203 |
Publisher | John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd |
ISSN | 1057-9249 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.3391 |
Web address (URL) | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pon.3391 |
Open access | Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access |
Research or scholarly | Research |
Page range | 195-203 |
Publisher's version | License File Access Level Open |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
Online | 17 Jan 2014 |
Publication process dates | |
Accepted | 12 Aug 2013 |
Deposited | 22 May 2024 |
Additional information | © 2013 The Authors. Psycho-Oncology published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. | |
Place of publication | United Kingdom |
https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/item/90807/the-validity-of-the-distress-thermometer-in-prostate-cancer-populations
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Publisher's version
OA_Chambers_2013_The_validity_of_the_distress_thermometer.pdf | |
License: CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 | |
File access level: Open |
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