Screening, Assessment, and Care of Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms in Adults With Cancer: An American Society of Clinical Oncology Guideline Adaptation

Introduction Because of growing numbers of cancer survivors, the American Society of Clinical Oncology ASCO has taken steps to address the call by the Institute of Medicine for the “use of systematically developed evidence-based clinical practice guidelines, assessment tools, and screening instruments to help identify and manage late effects of cancer and its treatment.” To that end, ASCO established an ad hoc panel to conduct a formal review of the “PanCanadian Practice Guideline on Screening, Assessment and Care of Psychosocial Distress (Depression, Anxiety) in Adults With Cancer.” ASCO has a policy and set of procedures for adapting clinical practice guidelines developed by other organizations. The pan-Canadian guideline addresses the optimum screening, assessment, and psychosocial-supportive care interventions for adults with cancer who are identified as experiencing symptoms of depression and/or anxiety. The ASCO ad hoc panel