Data Shows Positive Results Following Cancer Screening

Findings presented at the March 2013 Annual Meeting of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network

The Research and Training Institute of the Cancer Support Community (CSC) released data today showing a significant decrease in emotional distress for people living with cancer who are screened with CSC's distress screening program, CancerSupportSource, and are linked to personalized resources.

“Early diagnosis of and intervention for distress is related to better health outcomes and quality of life for people with cancer,” says Joanne Buzaglo, PhD, Vice President of the Cancer Support Community's Research and Training Institute. “We are thrilled to demonstrate that the use of CancerSupportSource aided in the significant reduction of patients’ levels of distress within 30-45 days of initial screening.” 

CancerSupportSource (CSS) is a comprehensive screening program that includes both a 25-question tool to help identify priority areas in which a patient feels most worried as well as a full suite of community-based resources, customized to help individuals manage their concerns. Patients in the study who underwent screening had a 10% decrease in overall distress with a 25% reduction in the number of concerns ranked as moderate or very serious. 

Data presented at the meeting showed that CSS is able to identify patients at risk for clinical depression with a high degree of certainty—equivalent to that of the Distress Thermometer, another cancer distress measurement tool. Additional work is ongoing at the Research and Training Institute to further target the early diagnosis of depression and to evaluate the impact of distress screening and follow-up on the cost of the cancer experience. 

For more information about distress screening or CancerSupportSource, please visit cancersupportcommunity.org/cancersupportsource