Table 1 Medical and psychosocial sample characteristics
N | Statistics for the whole sample | Differences breast cancer/bowel cancer | Differences cancer centres/ referred if needed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
F(p) r. X2(p) | F(p) r. X2(p) | |||
Sociodemographic characteristics | ||||
Gender: proportion women | 290 | 82% | ||
Age | 273 | M = 65; SD = 13.4 | 6.56 (0.011) | 0.02 (0.902) |
Steady relationships: | 285 | 64%/ 36% | 0.62 (0.735) | 0.17 (0.916) |
Couple/ single | ||||
Having children | 279 | 78% | 0.04 (0.982) | 0.90 (0.636) |
Working situation: | 290 | 23%/ 59%/ 17% | 6.06 (0.300) | 1.38 (0.926) |
Employed/retired/unemployed | ||||
Medical characteristics | ||||
Diagnosis: Breast /bowel/gynaecological/ digestive/other | 290 | 48%/ 25%/ 10%/ 7%/ 10% | ||
Metastases: | 290 | 30%/ 19%/ 51% | 22.4 (<0.001) | 21.86 (<0.001) |
Yes/no/not known | ||||
First diagnosis/recidive/2nd cancer | 279 | 84%/ 9%/ 7% | 8.08 (0.089) | 3.86 (0.425) |
Surgery | 290 | 75% | 18.2 (<0.001) | 23.9 (<0.001) |
Chemotherapy | 290 | 10% | 14.3 (<0.001) | 3.25 (0.071) |
Radiotherapy | 290 | 8% | 12.5 (<0.001) | 0.13 (0.720) |
Performance status (Levels 0–4) | 290 | 24%/ 33%/ 18%/ 18%/ 7% | 63.8 (<0.001) | 24.25 (<0.001) |
M =1.48; SD = 1.22 | ||||
Duration of illness (days) | 290 | M = 101; SD = 327 | 5.1 (0.024) | 0.34 (0.314) |
Psychiatric/psychological treatment in past | 276 | 14% | 2.53 (0.283) | 0.96 (0.618) |
Current treatment with psychotropic drugs | 266 | 20% | 5.2 (0.075) | 16.9 (<0.001) |
Additional serious disease: No/yes/no known | 290 | 30%/ 36%/ 34% | 4.02 (0.134) | 2.43 (0.297) |
Psychological distress | ||||
Sum score psychological distress | 290 | M =7.5; SD = 5.65 | 14.1 (<0.001) | 34.52 (0.017) |
Physical distress | ||||
Sum score physical distress | 290 | M =3.7; SD = 3.01 | 5.26 (0.022) | 2.70 (0.100) |
Other distress factors | ||||
Problems in family/ significant others | 290 | 17% | 0.48 (0.488) | 0.34 (0.581) |
Economic/work-related problems | 290 | 4.5% | 0.63 (0.425) | 0.08 (0.770) |
Additional stressful factors | 290 | 3.4% | 0.11 (0.733) | 0.04 (0.842) |
Stressors unrelated to the illness | 290 | 13% | 1.24 (0.265) | 1.71 (0.190) |
Indication | ||||
Professional psychosocial support is indicated | 290 | 30% | 0.02 (0.879) | 31.9 (<0.001) |