Cancer patients’ wish for psychological support during outpatient radiation therapy: Findings from a psychooncological monitoring program in clinical routine

BACKGROUND: Cancer patients frequently suffer from physical and psychosocial impairments due to their disease and its treatment. Psychooncology (PO) can help to cope with stress resulting from outpatient radiotherapy (RT) treatment. There are currently few data regarding patients’ wishes for PO support. The aim of this study was to investigate the number of patients with a wish for PO, treatment paths, and predictors of the wish for PO among cancer patients at the beginning of RT. METHODS: The results of routine psychological stress screening (Hornheide screening instrument; cut-off ≥ 4) of 944 cancer patients between 2015 and 2017 were analyzed in a retrospective cross-sectional study. Predictors for a wish for PO support were identified by stepwise binary logistic regression, in which sociodemographic and treatment data were included in addition to the screening items. RESULTS: Around 20% of patients had above-average stress levels and 13% expressed a wish for PO support (participation rate was approximately 55%). Low emotional wellbeing (OR = 11.3) and lack of social support (OR = 9.4) were strong predictors for this treatment wish. Among patients with pancreatic cancer, head and neck tumors, and hematologic disease, there was a substantial difference between the degree of psychological stress and the wish for treatment. Patients with urological (23.5%) and lung tumors (20.9%) most frequently expressed a wish for PO support. CONCLUSION: Patient-reported psychosocial problems were better predictors of a wish for PO support than sociodemographic or clinical data. Stress screening should thus be implemented in clinical routine. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00066-018-1288-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.