Background: Few cancer healthcare practitioners use a valid instrument to assess cancer patients for distress. This study validated the Distress Thermometer (DT) by comparing it with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS).
Methods: Cancer patients (n = 130) were assessed using sociodemographic questionnaire, the DT and HADS (gold-standard). Analysis was carried out using SPSS 20.0.
Results: The correlation between the DT score and total HADS was 0.689 p < 0.001, between DT and HADS-Anxiety was 0.634, p < 0.001 and between DT and HADS-Depression was 0.50, p < 0.001. With HADS cut-off score at 15, the ROC analysis establishes an AUC of 0.82 (95% CI = 0.74–0.89, p < 0.001. Using a cut-off score of 3, the DT had the best sensitivity (0.98) and specificity (0.63).
Conclusion: Thus, the DT is a valid instrument for screening for psychosocial distress in cancer patients in Nigeria.
Key words: Psychosocial Distress, ROC Curve, Area under Curve, Depression, Anxiety, Nigeria
|
