Psychosocial distress, perceived need and utilization of psycho- social support services in patients in the early phase after the first cancer diagnosis.

Purpose: Due to the growing number of new oncological diagnosis and the accompanying psychosocial burden, needs-based psycho-oncological care is important. Adequate planning of psycho-oncological support services is therefore becoming increasingly important. In order to better implement psycho-oncological support services, we investigate psychosocial distress, perceived need and utilization of psycho-oncological support offers in newly diagnosed cancer patients.

Methods: Based on a multicenter prospective study, we assessed the cross-sectional data on psychosocial distress, perceived need and utilization of psycho- social support in patients with different tumor entities within 2 months after initial diagnosis. Psychosocial distress was assessed using the Distress Thermometer (DT).

Results: Of 1,003 eligible patients who completed the questionnaire (53.0% men, mean age 60.3 years) 39.7% (n = 390) showed above-threshold psychosocial stress (DT: scores ≥ 5) and 21% (n = 207) indicated a perceived need for psycho- social support. 13.5% (n = 136) showed both, psychosocial distress and perceived need for psycho- social support. 15.2% (n = 150) out of all participating patients used psycho-oncology service, 60.7% (n = 597) were willing to accept such an offer. Women were significantly more likely to be psychosocially distressed and to express a need for support. They were also significantly more likely to seek and be willing to accept psycho- social support.

Conclusion: Although most patients would accept a psycho- social service, regardless of whether there is psychosocial distress or a need is perceived, the actual utilization was relatively low. It can therefore be assumed that barriers, e.g. structural or personal ones, prevent access. These should be investigated in more detail in future studies.