The emotional distress of children with cancer in China: an item response analysis of C-Ped-PROMIS Anxiety and Depression short forms

BackgroundFamily caregivers of patients with advanced illness at end of life often report high levels of emotional distress. To address this emotional distress is necessary to have adequate and reliable screening tools.AimThis study analyses the psychometric properties and clinical utility of the Family Caregiver Emotional Detection Scale for caregivers of patients with end-stage cancer (DME-C, Spanish acronym) who are receiving palliative care (PC).DesignMulticentre, cross-sectional study.Settings/participantsFamily caregivers of patients with advanced cancer at end of life receiving palliative treatment were interviewed to explore their emotional distress through the DME-C scale and other instruments measuring anxiety and depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)), distress thermometer (DT) and overload (B), as well as a clinical psychological assessment (CPA).Results138 family caregivers, 85 (61.6%) female and 53 (38.4%) male, with an average age of 59.69±13.3 participated in the study. The reliability of the scale, as measured by Cronbach’s alpha, was 0.76, and its stability over time was 0.734. Positive, significant correlations were found between the DME-C and the scores for anxiety and depression registered on the HADS scale, as well as with the total result of this latter scale and the results for B, the DT and the CPA. A statistical analysis of the receiver-operating characteristic curves showed that the scale has a sensitivity and specificity of 75%, and that the cut-off point for the detection of emotional distress was a score ≥11. Fifty-four per cent of the caregivers displayed emotional distress according to this scale.ConclusionsThe DME-C displays good psychometric properties. It is simple, short, reliable and easy to administer. We believe that the instrument is useful for the detection of emotional distress in the family caregivers of hospitalised patients suffering from end-stage illnesses and receiving PC.

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An Item Response Theory examination of the original and short forms of the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) in pregnant women

Journal of Clinical Psychology ◽

10.1002/jclp.23167 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Brandon L. Goldstein ◽

Margaret J. Briggs‐Gowan ◽

Carolyn C. Greene ◽

Rocio Chang ◽

Damion J. Grasso

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Item Response Theory ◽

Pregnant Women ◽

Item Response ◽

Response Theory ◽

Short Forms ◽

Difficulties In Emotion Regulation

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Using Item Response Theory to Identify Responders to Treatment: Examples with the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) Physical Function Scale and Emotional Distress Composite

Psychometrika ◽

10.1007/s11336-021-09774-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ron D. Hays ◽

Karen L. Spritzer ◽

Steven P. Reise

Keyword(s):

Item Response Theory ◽

Physical Function ◽

Item Response ◽

Emotional Distress ◽

Classical Test Theory ◽

Test Theory ◽

Measurement Information ◽

Response Theory ◽

Reliable Change ◽

Patient Reported

AbstractThe reliable change index has been used to evaluate the significance of individual change in health-related quality of life. We estimate reliable change for two measures (physical function and emotional distress) in the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) 29-item health-related quality of life measure (PROMIS-29 v2.1). Using two waves of data collected 3 months apart in a longitudinal observational study of chronic low back pain and chronic neck pain patients receiving chiropractic care, and simulations, we compare estimates of reliable change from classical test theory fixed standard errors with item response theory standard errors from the graded response model. We find that unless true change in the PROMIS physical function and emotional distress scales is substantial, classical test theory estimates of significant individual change are much more optimistic than estimates of change based on item response theory.

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P106 Depressive symptoms and anxiety and their screening in IBD patients: performance of the distress thermometer in Italian IBD patients

Journal of Crohn s and Colitis ◽

10.1093/ecco-jcc/jjz203.235 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 14 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S188-S189

Author(s):

C Canaletti ◽

F Colombo ◽

A Dessì ◽

E Geccherle ◽

A Tongiorgi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Psychological Distress ◽

Emotional Distress ◽

Screening Tool ◽

Anxiety And Depression ◽

Depression Symptoms ◽

Cutoff Score ◽

Distress Screening ◽

Single Item ◽

Mayo Score ◽

Clinical Indices

Abstract Background Roughly 50% of patients with IBD have symptoms of psychological distress (Mikocka-Walus et al. 2019) but only 15.2% receive attention for their mental health although the effect on disease severity can be profound. It is necessary to have an easy-to-administer psychological distress screening tool. The distress thermometer (DT) is a single-item distress screening scale with 11-likert response widely used in oncological patients. The aim of study was to determine whether the single-item DT compared favourably with IBD clinical indices and time consuming measures currently used to screen for distress. Methods Two hundered and twenty IBD patients (51.43% male) who were recruited in eight Italian hospitals completed the DT and identiﬁed the presence or absence of 34 problems using standardised problem list (PL). They completed the 14-item Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the 32-item Inﬂammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ). Disease clinical indices have been collected for each patient (Mayo score, Harvey–Bradshaw Index–HBI, years of illness, and exacerbation in the last year). Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses validated the use of the DT in Italian IBD population. Results 47.6% reported anxiety and depression symptoms (HADS ≥15) and needs emotional care. Anxiety is much more associated (43.8%) than depressive problems (26.2%). Data are confirmed by responses to DT and PL: 44.5% of patients reported moderate–severe emotional distress (TD ≥ 5), 43.1% of patients report nervousness and worry, 27.1% reported depression. We observed a strong positive correlation between IBDQ and HADS (r = 0.74, p < 0.001) and DT (r = 0.58, p < 0.001), while there was a slightly smaller association with Mayo score (r = 0.46, p < 0.001) and HBI (r = 0.39, p < 0.001). There was not a statistical significant correlation between disease indices and the emotional distress as measured by HADS or DT. ROC analyses showed that a DT cutoff score of 5 or higher had optimal sensitivity (83%) and speciﬁcity (68%) relative to the HADS score as ‘gold’ standard. DT scores yielded area under the curve estimates relative to the HADS cutoff score indicative of good overall accuracy (AUC = 0.81–95% CI: 0.77–0.85). Conclusion Our study conﬁrms that anxiety and depression symptoms are associated with IBD. This is the first study that demonstrated that DT is an easy-to-administer screening tool of psychosocial distress in IBD population. We propose that gastroenterologists use DT to identify patients with psychological distress: an early psychological support and a multidisclinar equipe can determinate a patient’s better disease course (Mawdsley et al. 2005). Our analyses indicated that using a DT’s cutoff of 5 to indicate high levels of distress.

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