[Psychooncological interventions - what do cancer patients aged 60 years or older wish for?]

To determine the acceptance of psychooncological interventions and predictors of subjective needs in cancer patients over 60 years of age.

We examined 292 in- and outpatients (51% female, 51.7% aged over 60 years) from the Interdisciplinary Cancer Center of the University Hospital of Münster with a questionnaire designed to assess their wish to participate in various psychooncological interventions (FIPA) and with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D).

73.5 % of those over 60 years and 87.9 % of those under 60 years professed a wish for at least one specific psychooncological intervention. Higher age, lower levels of anxiety and cancer relapse were negative predictors of the readiness to attend psychooncological interventions (9 % variance explained). As to specific interventions, those aged 60 years or older showed lower acceptance only for relaxation techniques.

Readiness to attend psychooncological interventions was high with only marginal differences between the age groups. Because objective features of the patient and the disease resulted only in a low predictability of the subjective need for psychooncological interventions, routine screening of cancer patients seems an important issue.