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Experiences with a psychosocial screening instrument (S‐FIRST) to identify the psychosocial support needs of parents of children suffering from cancer
Author(s) -
Haunberger Sigrid,
Rüegger Cornelia,
Baumgartner Edgar
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
psycho‐oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.41
H-Index - 137
eISSN - 1099-1611
pISSN - 1057-9249
DOI - 10.1002/pon.5045
Subject(s) - psychosocial , receiver operating characteristic , medicine , clinical psychology , psychology , psychiatry
Objectives A large proportion of families with a child suffering from cancer are heavily burdened, both psychologically and socially functions, thus requiring treatment. Therefore, a systematic assessment of burden and needs is essential to identify clients with a high psychosocial burden and to allow for accurate decision making regarding indications for treatment. There is a great need for the development and validation of screening instruments in psychosocial counseling. Methods The receiver operating characteristic curve is a basic method to evaluate the discriminatory power of diagnostic tests. We computed sensitivity/specificity indices based on a sample of parents of pediatric cancer patients; the parents were screened with the S‐FIRST and completed another standardized instrument with reliable indicators. Results We found significant area under the curve (AUC) values from 0.671 to 0.882, meaning that the S‐FIRST screening instrument has small to medium discriminatory power. Conclusion Our results support the use of a screening instrument for case history analyses in psychosocial counseling to identify clients with a high psychosocial burden.