Use of the Distress Thermometer in Cancer Survivors: Convergent Validity and Diagnostic Accuracy in a Spanish Sample

Objectives To explore the performance of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Distress Thermometer (DT) as a distress screening tool in cancer survivors. Sample & setting 236 Spanish adult-onset cancer survivors who visited the Fundacion Instituto Valenciano de Oncologia in Valencia, Spain, for follow-up appointments. Methods & variables Survivors completed the DT and the Brief Symptom Inventory 18 (BSI-18), which has established a cutoff score for identifying clinically significant distress. Results Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of the DT scores relative to the BSI-18 cutoff score showed good overall accuracy. For a score of 5 or greater, sensitivity, specificity, p…