Cancer patients' distresses and inquiries: proposal of four-level classification based on consultation service and questionnaire survey.

The present study was undertaken to understand the realities of cancer patients' and their family members' distresses and inquiries, including medical/physical, emotional/spiritual and social/economic problems, from scientific viewpoints. The initial step of the study was to develop the classification category for these distresses and inquiries. The category was proposed based on information from two different sources; one is the consultation records of the Patient Support and Inquiry Division, Shizuoka Cancer Center and the other is the database of the Questionnaire Survey, which consisted of more than 25,000 distresses from 7885 people who faced up to cancer.