Determinants of Distress among Cancer Patients Admitted for the Day Care Treatment at a Tertiary Care Cancer Hospital, Amritsar, Punjab

Abstract

Introduction:Distress is very common in patients with cancer but it often goes unidentified. Sociodemographic, clinical, and psychosocial variables have been identified as major risk factors for distress and it extends along a continuum, ranging from common feelings of vulnerability, sadness, and alarming to problems that can become disabling.Objectives:To determine the level of distress among cancer patients and sociodemographic factors affecting distress among the cancer patients. Materials & Methods: The study was a cross sectional study using purposive sampling technique. All the patients above 18 years who were admitted from 1^st March 2021 to 31^st August 2021 were included in the study.The information was collected from patients using NCCN Distress Thermometer (DT) and problem checklist, a validated tool to assess the distress levels and their association of distress with problems. The data was compiled and statistically analysed using Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS Software 23.0 version) IBM Chicago. Results: out of 567 participants, 64.6% study subjects were above 50 years. This shows that the number of patients were increasing with increasing age. In all, 60.5 % were females and 39.5% were males. Majority of patients were having moderate to severe distress (50.6%) followed by 37.9% who had mild stress and 11.5% had no stress.It was observed that education, occupation and socio-economic status were significantly associated with the level of distress while age, sex and marital status had no association. Conclusion:Holistic approach in cancer treatment including psychological, spiritual and emotional evaluation and its solution for the same at appropriate time enhances the quality of life of the patients. It is recommended that all health care providers should address these as a part of their routine practice.