Why the study?
Despite evidence supporting distress screening to improve outcomes in cancer patients, routine screening has yet to achieve widespread implementation.
Automated screening for distress using emerging technologies may facilitate early intervention and improve psychological well-being in cancer patients.
Supports hypothesis-generating role for automated distress screening in cancer; requires prospective trials before clinical adoption.
Distress is a complex condition, which affects a significant percentage of cancer patients and may lead to depression, anxiety, sadness, suicide and other forms of psychological morbidity. Compelling evidence supports screening for distress as a means of facilitating early intervention and subsequent improvements in psychological well-being and overall quality of life. Nevertheless, despite the existence of evidence-based and easily administered screening tools, for example, the Distress Thermometer, routine screening for distress is yet to achieve widespread implementation. Efforts are intensifying to utilise innovative, cost-effective methods now available through emerging technologies in the informatics and computational arenas.
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Rana et al. (2019) studied this question.
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