OptiScreen – ein Schulungskonzept für Pflegekräfte zur Durchführung des psychosozialen Distress-Screenings

BACKGROUND: Adequate, needs-based psycho-oncological care reduces depression and anxiety in cancer patients and their relatives, and increases quality of life. However, cancer patients experiencing psychosocial distress are not generally systematically identified in order to offer them psycho-oncological support. Screening questionnaires have proven useful for identification, but there are barriers to their use in clinical practice. Nurses play a key role due to their continuous contact with patients, diverse clinical experience, and interactions with various professional groups. OBJECTIVES: OptiScreen training is intended to enable nurses in oncology to perform distress screening, to impart appropriate expert knowledge, and to reduce hurdles and uncertainties in the screening process in order to identify distressed patients in a targeted manner and to provide them with psycho-oncological care. TRAINING: OptiScreen training is divided into three modules of 1.5–2 h each on the areas of mental disorders in cancer, psycho-oncological care, psychological distress, distress screening, communication regarding the screening process and self-care (conveyed through lectures, videos, role playing, exercises). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: Preliminary practical experience indicates successful implementation of the training concept. Further goals are to increase the knowledge and confidence of the nurses in the screening process and to maintain the effects in the long term. In addition, training will be established in different settings and the effects of the training on the patients’ awareness and satisfaction with the screening process will be assessed.