Abstract
The purpose of this research was to present the latest development of the The Perceived Emotional Distress Inventory (PEDI) as a brief 15-item self-report measure intended to be used for the assessment of psychological distress in cancer patients. Factor Analyses of Principal Components with promax rotations were performed with a combined male and female sample of 481 cancer patients at St. Joseph’s hospital Cancer Institute in Tampa, Florida, to provide further evidence of construct validity. The factor structure, internal consistency, and Pearson correlation coefficients of the PEDI are presented in this report. The factor analysis identified three factors comparable to those found in previous samples in USA: The first factor, anxiety/depression; second factor, hopelessness; and third factor, anger expression. Global alpha coefficient of 0.92 for the inventory indicates strong internal consistency. Pearson correlations between the subscales of the instrument is impressive for such a brief measure. This study emphasizes the need for a brief, self-report instrument to assess anger expression, anxiety, depression and hopelessness as components of perceived emotional distress in cancer patients, while explicitly excluding the potentially confounding effects of somatic symptoms commonly associated with cancer treatments. Further research will be needed to provide information about the PEDI’s use in populations other than cancer patients including attempts to replicate these findings in more heterogeneous populations.
Highlights
The diagnosis of cancer and the aggressive treatments currently available to cure the disease are traumatic events that have a major impact upon patients and their family members
The incidence of depression in cancer patients varies from 20% to 25% in United States[1], and 72% to 89% in Sweden[2], with the prevalence increasing to 77% for those with advanced illness[3]
The clinical screening of perceived emotional distress as part of an initial psychosocial assessment, may offer an opportunity to identify high-risk patients before they receive their diagnosis of cancer[15]
Summary
The diagnosis of cancer and the aggressive treatments currently available to cure the disease are traumatic events that have a major impact upon patients and their family members. More information needs to be given to the primary oncologist and his/her staff about the recognition of significantly high levels of emotional distress; how to query the patient to elicit adequate information about their feelings, and how to identify appropriate resources to which the oncological patients could be referred for psychological counseling and support. In this sense, the recognition of perceived emotional distress in cancer patients needs to be a top priority within psychosocial oncology programs across the world[4,5,6,7]
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