Skip to main content

Table 2 Level of distress and associated problem list category [16, 19], level of anxiety and depression[42], and level of care cancer patients and carers were triaged to by Cancer Council Helpline operators[37].

From: Feasibility of brief psychological distress screening by a community-based telephone helpline for cancer patients and carers

 

Cancer Patient

Carer

 
 

n

% 1

n

%

p-value

DT cut-off 2

    

<0.001

   Below cut-off (<4)

80

36.2

11

9.6

 

   Above cut-off (≥ 4)

141

63.8

103

90.4

 

Problem List Category

     

   Practical

53

23.8

32

27.1

0.50

   Family

27

12.1

32

27.1

<0.001

   Emotional

115

51.6

84

71.2

<0.001

   Spiritual

3

1.3

2

1.7

0.805

   Treatment

83

37.2

28

23.7

0.01

   Symptoms

21

9.4

15

12.7

0.35

   Other

61

27.4

33

28.0

0.90

HADS: Anxiety 3

    

0.03

   Normal

108

48.4

42

35.6

 

   Borderline

50

22.4

26

22.0

 

   Clinical

65

29.1

50

42.4

 

HADS: Depression 3

    

0.68

   Normal

147

65.9

80

67.8

 

   Borderline

42

18.8

24

20.3

 

   Clinical

34

15.2

14

11.9

 

HADS cut-off

    

0.285

   Below cut-off (<15)

127

57.0

60

50.8

 

   Above cut-off (≥ 15)

96

43.0

58

49.2

 

Level of Care triaged to 2,4

    

0.155

   Universal

59

27.7

21

19.1

 

   Supportive

111

52.1

69

62.7

 

   Extended

43

20.2

19

17.3

 

   Specialist

0

0.0

1

0.9

 

   Acute

0

0.0

0

0.0

 
  1. 1. All percentages are valid percentages (i.e., missing values are excluded from the denominator).
  2. 2. Missing values: Distress level -1.8%; Level of Care-5.3%.
  3. 3. Anxiety and Depression subscales: Normal = score of 0-7; Borderline = score of 8-10; Clinical = score of 11+.
  4. 4. Extended, specialist and acute care categories were collapsed for chi-square comparisons.
  5. Greater than 20% of cells have expected count less than 5 and/or minimum expected count is less than 1. Interpret with caution.