Optimizing Community and Hospital Services Using the Cancer Support Source Program.

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Psychosocial Oncology
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• The Cancer Support Community developed the Cancer Support Source (CSS) to assess patient distress.
• The CSS is a self-administered questionnaire where patients rate concerns and need for staff action.
• The questionnaire lacks specific staff categories for indicated needs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the factor structure of the CSS.
• To enhance the CSS's utility for triaging patients based on needs assessment.
• To facilitate appropriate service referrals for cancer patients.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of data from 690 patients who completed the CSS over one year.
• Exploratory principal component analysis (Study 1).
• Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to evaluate the proposed model (Study 2).

Main Results:

• Three factors were identified and retained in the final CFA: emotional distress, physical health concerns, and resource needs.
• The proposed three-factor model demonstrated adequate fit (RMSEA=0.056, CFI=.907, SRMR=0.050).

Conclusions:

• Three CSS subscales are proposed: Emotional Distress/Patient and Family Counselor, Physical Health Concerns/Medical Care Provider, and Resource Needs/Case Management-Clinical Social Worker.
• These subscales aim to guide patient referral and service coordination.
• Further research is needed to establish the clinical utility of these referral subscales.