J Breast Dis.  2017 Jun;5(1):8-15. 10.14449/jbd.2017.5.1.8.

Distress Screening and Management in Early Breast Cancer Patients: Distress after Breast Cancer Diagnosis and Associated Factors

• Baek H
• Kang E
• Lee AS
• Hwang E
• Chae S
• Kim EK
• Kim SW

• KMID: 2385833
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.14449/jbd.2017.5.1.8

Abstract

PURPOSE
The aims of this study were to evaluate the magnitude of distress after breast cancer diagnosis and to investigate factors associated with distress, as well as to determine the effectiveness of psychological intervention.
METHODS
This study was performed retrospectively, reviewing 264 patients who underwent breast cancer surgery at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital between November 2011 and May 2014. Distress was measured using the distress thermometer (DT) and Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale (CES-D) questionnaires before, as well as at 3 and 6 months postsurgery. Psychological intervention was recommended to high risk patients (DT score ≥5 or CES-D score ≥16).
RESULTS
In total, 149 patients (56.4%) were classified as high risk in the initial assessment. In the following assessments, the proportion of those in the high risk group was 38.5% and 25.0% at 3 and 6 months postsurgery, respectively. Mastectomy was significantly associated with high levels of distress compared to breast-conserving surgery in the univariate (p=0.048) and multivariate analyses (p=0.014). However, there was no significant relationship between any of the various socioeconomic factors and distress. Distress level was reduced over time in both scales. Of the 149 high risk patients, only 21 received the psychological intervention. Using linear mixed models, the psychological intervention resulted in marginally significant reductions in DT (p=0.051) and CES-D (p=0.077) scores.
CONCLUSION
More than half of patients experienced distress upon initial diagnosis, and the determined surgery type was an important factor associated with high distress level. It is important to identify high risk patients and to manage distress during the initial phase.

Keyword

Breast neoplasms; Distress; Psychological intervention

MeSH Terms

Breast Neoplasms*
Breast*
Diagnosis*
Humans
Mass Screening*
Mastectomy
Mastectomy, Segmental
Multivariate Analysis
Retrospective Studies
Seoul
Socioeconomic Factors
Thermometers
Weights and Measures