Psychosocial distress and need for supportive counselling in patients during radiotherapy

Purpose: Psychosocial distress and patient attitude towards psychosocial support as well as the correlations with clinical and sociodemographic characteristics should be assessed. Methods: The stress due to cancer was measured in a consecutive sample of tumor patients at the start of radiotherapy (n = 117) by use of the Hornheide: Questionnaire. In addition, the interest of these patients in professional psychosocial support was assessed with the help of the Questionnaire for Psychosocial Support, Results: Patients in the course of radiotherapy and patients with a poor prognosis and advanced disease were more strongly distressed, 32.7% of patients wished professional psychosocial support from the oncologist treating them, 40.6% of the patients wished support from the oncologist and additionally from a psychotherapist or social worker. Interest in professional psychosocial support correlated with the amount of distress, but not with sociodemographic variables. Conclusions: Results stress the importance of training programs for oncologists in order to improve their ability to detect psychosocial distress in cancer patients and to offer adequate emotional support to them.