Assessing Somatic, Psychosocial, and Spiritual Distress of Patients with Advanced Cancer

Objective: For adequate distress assessment in palliative care, we developed a screening evaluation tool. Methods: Proven methods of scale construction led to a 53-item pilot form of the Advanced Cancer Patients’ Distress Scale (ACPDS). We used Hornheide Questionnaire (HQ), Palliative Outcome Scale (POS), and Minimal Documentation System (MIDOS) for validation. Advanced cancer patients (N = 168) from 3 centers for palliative medicine (aged 23-89, 51% female) filled out the questionnaire. Results: With a principal component analysis (PCA), we extracted 5 distress scales (emotional reactions/physical restrictions, communication deficits, negative social reactions, pain, and gastrointestinal s…