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General practitioners' ‘lived experience’ of assessing psychological distress in cancer patients: an exploratory qualitative study
Author(s) -
Carolan C.M.,
Campbell K.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
european journal of cancer care
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1365-2354
pISSN - 0961-5423
DOI - 10.1111/ecc.12351
Subject(s) - facilitator , medicine , distress , context (archaeology) , qualitative research , global positioning system , nursing , palliative care , exploratory research , interpretative phenomenological analysis , clinical psychology , psychology , social psychology , paleontology , social science , telecommunications , sociology , computer science , anthropology , biology
While psychological distress in cancer patients is common, little is known about how general practitioners ( GP s) assess distress. Using semi‐structured interviews, a phenomenological study of seven GP s was conducted to explore GP s' experiences of assessing distress. Findings revealed five themes: (1) Being in the Relay Team – receiving and passing the baton: where the assessment of distress was conceptualised as a relay baton passed between a team of health care professionals, with GP s most involved at diagnosis and in the palliative phase. (2) Being in a Relationship : where the doctor–patient relationship was described as a powerful facilitator to assessment. (3) Being Skilled : where GP s perceive they are skilled at assessment adopting a patient‐centred approach. (4) Being Challenged – encountering barriers: challenges with assessment were identified regarding the GP s' own emotions, patient related factors and time; the duality of family as both barrier and facilitator was voiced. (5) The Intruder in the Room : where GP s did not use validated screening tools which were viewed as an intruder in the doctor–patient relationship. Further research to objectively assess GP s' skills in distress assessment and attitudes towards the use of screening tools within the cancer care context are merited.