Hopelessness and related variables among cancer patients in the Southern European Psycho-Oncology Study (SEPOS).

Background: Although hopelessness has been studied in cancer, no data are available in non-English-speaking countries.

Objective: The authors sought to amass data from Southern European countries (Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland) in order to fill this void.

Method: A group of 312 cancer patients completed the Mini-MAC Hopelessness subscale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), the Cancer Worry Inventory (CWI), and a six-item Visual Analog scale (VAS) to measure intensity of physical symptoms, general well-being, difficulty in coping with cancer, intensity of social support from close relationships, leisure activity, and support from religious beliefs.

Use of distress and depression thermometers to measure psychosocial morbidity among southern European cancer patients.

Goals Of Work: Recent literature has indicated the need for rapid evaluation of psychosocial issues secondary to cancer. Because of the problems of routine use of psychometric instruments, short instruments such as visual analogue scales or one-item 0-10 scales have been developed as valid assessment alternatives.

Patients And Methods: A study was conducted to examine the role of two 0-10 scales in measuring emotional stress (distress thermometer, DT) and depressed mood (mood thermometer, MT), respectively, in a multicenter study carried out in southern European countries (Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland).