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Responding to distress in cancer care: Increasing access to psycho oncology services through integrated collaborative care
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Responding to distress in cancer care: Increasing access to psycho oncology services through integrated collaborative care

Arwa Aburizik, Trisha L. Raque, Nathen Spitz, Aubrey McEnroe and Martin Kivlighan
Psycho-oncology (Chichester, England), Vol.32(11), pp.1675-1683
11/2023
DOI: 10.1002/pon.6217
PMID: 37724636
url
https://doi.org/10.1002/pon.6217View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Abstract Objective Despite increased attention to the utility of collaborative care models for promoting whole‐person care in cancer populations, there is a paucity of empirical research testing the impact of these care models on effectively identifying and serving highly distressed cancer patients. This study sought to experimentally test the effectiveness of a year‐long collaborative care program on referral rates to psycho‐oncology services for patients with moderate to high distress. Methods Data for this study consisted of 11,467 adult patients with cancer who were screened for psychosocial distress 6‐months prior to, and following, the integrated collaborative care intervention. Psychosocial referral rates pre‐, peri‐ and post‐ intervention were analyzed. Results Findings indicated high distress patients were at 3.76 (95% CI [2.40, 5.87]), 5.03 (95% CI [3.25, 7.76]), and 7.62 (95% CI [5.34, 10.87]) times increased odds of being referred during the pre‐intervention, peri‐intervention, and post‐intervention, respectively, when compared to low distress patients, and these differences across time were significantly different ( p  = 0.04). Conclusion Findings from this study suggest that the successful initiation of a collaborative care model within a comprehensive cancer center contributed to significantly greater referral rates of cancer patients with moderate to high distress to psycho‐oncology services. This study contributes to the growing consensus that collaborative care models can positively impact the care of complex medical patients.
Oncology cancer collaborative care distress integrated care psychiatrists psycho-oncology psychologists UIOWA OA Agreement

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