gms | German Medical Science

27th German Cancer Congress Berlin 2006

German Cancer Society (Frankfurt/M.)

22. - 26.03.2006, Berlin

Evaluation of a computer based screening procedure for psycho-oncological treatment during radiotherapy

Meeting Abstract

  • corresponding author presenting/speaker Susanne Sehlen - Department of Radio-Oncology, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, München, Deutschland
  • Petra Berg - Institute and Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine, Technical University of Munich
  • Mariana Emrich - Department of Radio-Oncology, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich
  • Hans Geinitz - Department of Radio-Oncology, Technical University of Munich
  • Gerhard Henrich - Institute and Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine, Technical University of Munich
  • Celia Pirker - Institute and Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine, Technical University of Munich
  • Michael Molls - Department of Radio-Oncology, Technical University of Munich
  • Eckhart Dühmke - Department of Radio-Oncology, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich
  • Peter Herschbach - Institute and Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine, Technical University of Munich

27. Deutscher Krebskongress. Berlin, 22.-26.03.2006. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2006. DocOP376

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/dkk2006/06dkk486.shtml

Published: March 20, 2006

© 2006 Sehlen et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.


Outline

Text

About 30% of all tumor patients suffer so much from psychosocial distress, that they need psycho-oncological treatment. Clinical experiences indicate, that the percentage is even higher among the patients treated with radiotherapy (33% - 42%). The fear of x-rays and the fear of possible side effects play a major role in this context. One very important object of research with great relevance related to practice is the question, how to identify those patients in daily routine, which are highly distressed and need psychological support. The fact, that not all patients can be seen and be interviewed in times of limited capabilities, adds to the importance of this question. Therefore an economic way to identify these needy patients has to be found. The most frequently tried procedure is the use of Questionnaires. Unfortunately the dealing out of the questionnaires, the input and the analysis of the data take very much time and require a great organisational effort. To solve these problems, a computer based technology is tested: a questionnaire specific for radiotherapy-patients (SIRO) is programmed for a tablet-PC and every patient answers the questionnaire on the screen, by touching the screen with a special pen. The questionnaires outcome can be viewed immediately and the score of a patient is displayed in comparison to a critical cut-off-score, which shows the need for psychoonocological support. This screening procedure should be evaluated as an acceptable, efficient method and the use of such routine patient interrogations should have the potential to improve the care for the patients’ quality of life. The aim of this study is to test the feasibility and the utility of the described procedure during daily routine. First the patients’ psychological distress and satisfaction with radiotherapy will be measured (FPZ, ZU-F-8, SIRO, HADS; n = 244), second the pen-and-paper-version and the tablet-PC-version of the SIRO are validated and the critical cut-off-score is fixed (HADS, both SIRO-Versions, PO-BADO; n = 160) and finally the screening procedure is tested and judged in daily routine (SIRO; n = 244 patients plus 40 colleagues from two university hospitals in Munich).


References

1.
Sehlen S, Fahrmüller H, Herschbach P, Aydemir U, Lenk M & Dühmke E. Psychometric properties of the Stress Index RadioOncology (SIRO) - A new questionnaire measuring Quality of life of tumor patients during radiotherapy. Strahlentherapie und Onkologie 179, 2003, 261-269.