• Sabine Fischbeck, Bernd-Oliver Maier, Ulrike Reinholz, Cornelia Nehring, Rainer Schwab, Manfred E Beutel, and Martin Weber.
• Clinic of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Germany. fischbec@uni-mainz.de
• Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2013 Jun 1;30(4):339-46.

ObjectiveFor adequate distress assessment in palliative care, we developed a screening evaluation tool.MethodsProven methods of scale construction led to a 53-item pilot form of the Advanced Cancer Patients' Distress Scale (ACPDS). We used Hornheide Questionnaire (HQ), Palliative Outcome Scale (POS), and Minimal Documentation System (MIDOS) for validation. Advanced cancer patients (N = 168) from 3 centers for palliative medicine (aged 23-89, 51% female) filled out the questionnaire.ResultsWith a principal component analysis (PCA), we extracted 5 distress scales (emotional reactions/physical restrictions, communication deficits, negative social reactions, pain, and gastrointestinal symptoms). Internal consistencies varied between medium (.52) and very good (.88). Positive validity scores were found.ConclusionsUsing the ACPDS may help to identify needs for palliative care interventions and enhance the quality of palliative care.

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