Integration of the health team to address the patients’ emotional aspects: Caring for the whole patient — ASN Events

Integration of the health team to address the patients’ emotional aspects: Caring for the whole patient (#406)

Cristiane D. Bergerot 1 , Marco M. Buso 1
  1. CETTRO - Centro de Câncer de Brasília, Brasília, DF, Brazil

Cancer care still fails to address psychosocial problems, which can compromise the effectiveness of health care and thereby adversely affect cancer patients. The present retrospective study explore a routine of distress screening, which is followed by a multidisciplinary discussion, with the aim of establishing personalized strategies for intervention and treatment. Over two years, 328 patients from a Brazilian private cancer center, participated in a longitudinal study, answering the Distress Thermometer and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, three times over a 6-month period using. The data of each evaluation were discussed between oncologist assistant and psychologist, to establish appropriate intervention. Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s correlation and a logistic regression were employed to analyze the data. There was a prevalence of female patients (64%), with an average of 54.7 years of age (SD = 15.8, range 18-86 years). Gastrointestinal (28%), breast (23.8%) and hematological (22.6%) were the main diagnosis. The distress level progressively decreased along the assessment: first day (55.8%), middle (27%) and last day of chemotherapy (13.4%), as well as the anxiety and depression score. There was a significant association (p < .001) between distress vs. anxiety and distress vs. depression: first day [r = 0.8, t(328) = 21.6; r = 0.8, t(328) = 16.2; R2 = 0.85], middle [r = 0.8, t(285) = 18.4; r = 0.8, t(285) = 20.9; R2 = 0.86] and last day of chemotherapy [r = 0.8, t(261) = 14.7; r = 0.8, t(261) = 20.8; R2 = 0.82]. Moreover, additional comparisons of the items were analyzed and will be presented at the meeting. Preliminary results suggest that distress, anxiety and depression scores tends to reduce during the 6-months period of evaluation, mainly because was supported by the multidisciplinary intervention and treatment tailored to each case.