The recognition of psychiatric morbidity on a medical oncology ward
The Generalised Health Questionnaire and Standardised Psychiatric Interview were used to determine psychiatric morbidity among 126 patients consecutively admitted to a medical oncology unit. Senior house officers and nurses also rated anxiety and depression. 36 (29%) patients were psychiatrically il...
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Published in | Journal of psychosomatic research Vol. 33; no. 2; pp. 235 - 239 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Amsterdam
Elsevier Inc
1989
New York, NY Elsevier |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | The Generalised Health Questionnaire and Standardised Psychiatric Interview were used to determine psychiatric morbidity among 126 patients consecutively admitted to a medical oncology unit. Senior house officers and nurses also rated anxiety and depression. 36 (29%) patients were psychiatrically ill and affective disorders (29, 23%) predominated. Psychiatric morbidity was associated with feeling moderately or severely physically ill, and previous psychiatric illness, but not with awareness of having cancer or lack of a confiding tie. The General Health Questionnaire identified 79% of affective disorders at the cost of a 34% false positive rate. Doctors and nurses recognised only 49% of the depressed group; more of those with morbid anxiety (79%) were identified but only because they assumed most patients were anxious. Training in interviewing skills could substantially improve the identification and referral rates of patients with psychiatric morbidity. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0022-3999 1879-1360 |
DOI: | 10.1016/0022-3999(89)90051-2 |