Removing the Stress from Selecting Instruments: Arming Social Workers to Take Leadership in Routine Distress Screening Implementation

Abstract

Quality cancer care requires identifying and addressing the psychosocial needs of cancer patients. Oncology social workers have long been on the forefront of this endeavor. Although there has been longstanding interest in screening cancer patients for distress, it has recently been included as a quality of care metric in institutions accredited by the American College of Surgeons. Implementing routine screening for distress in oncology settings requires thoughtful planning, including assessing various screening instruments and considering a host of variables within each practice setting. Oncology social workers are best positioned to provide leadership in operationalizing this mandate and to lead their team in the choice of a distress measure for compliance with the screening guideline. This article highlights the most popular distress screening measures used in oncology and their psychometric properties.

KEYWORDS:

• distress screening implementation
• distress screening in cancer patients
• oncology social workers
• social work leadership role

Acknowledgments

This article is not subject to U.S. copyright law.

The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The author wishes to thank Rebecca Glover-Kudon, PhD, MSPH, and Julie Townsend, MPH, for their thoughtful reviews of an earlier version of this manuscript.