Oncologists' identification of mental health distress in cancer patients: Strategies and barriers.
The purpose of this research was to examine oncologists' perspectives on indicators of mental health distress in patients: what strategies they use to identify these indicators, and what barriers they face in this task. Twenty-three oncologists were interviewed, and the grounded theory method of data collection and analysis was used. Oncologists perceived distress to be a normative part of having cancer and looked for affective, physical, verbal and behavioural indicators using a number of strategies. Barriers to identification of mental health distress included difficulty in differentiating between mental health distress and symptoms of the disease, and lack of training. A systematic, time-efficient assessment of symptoms of emotional distress is critical for identification of psychiatric disorders among patients and differentiating normative emotional responses from psychopathology. Clinical bias and misdiagnosis can be a consequence of an ad hoc, intuitive approach to assessment, which can have consequences for patients and their families. Once elevated risk is identified for mental health distress, the patient can be referred to specialised care that can offer evidence-based treatments.
['Granek|L|L|http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9936-2826', 'Nakash|O|O|', 'Ariad|S|S|', 'Shapira|S|S|', 'Ben-David|M|M|']
D000328:Adult D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel D005260:Female D066296:Grounded Theory D006305:Health Status Indicators D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008495:Medical Oncology D001523:Mental Disorders D008875:Middle Aged D009369:Neoplasms D036301:Qualitative Research D013315:Stress, Psychological
oncologists cancer mental distress qualitative methods screening