Psychological distress in patients with head and neck cancer: review

Comparison of the domains of anxiety and mood of the University of Washington Head and Neck Cancer Questionnaire (UW‐QOL V4) with the CES‐D and HADS

“…20 The Anxiety and Depression subscales both are composed of seven questions rated from 0 to 3, depending on the probability of the psychological problem described. These scales can be categorized as normal (0-7), possibly significant (8)(9)(10), and probably significant (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21). 21 The questionnaire was validated in nonhospital settings and has been used in several non-psychiatry-based studies assessing the impact of conditions such as oncology that might affect mental health.…”

Evidence for interventions to improve psychological outcomes in people with head and neck cancer: a systematic review of the literature

“…These interacting factors raise concerns that HNC patients may have particular need of psychological interventions but be less likely than other cancer patients to participate and adhere. Concerns are all the greater because HNC and its treatment confer specific stressors over and above those associated with cancer more generally, including disfigurement, changes in sexuality, and difficulties with eating and communication [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Depression, in particular, seems to increase during treatment, with a third or more patients presenting at or above clinical levels by treatment end [16,17].…”

Development and evaluation of a problem-focused psychosocial intervention for patients with head and neck cancer

“…Hence, there is a need for additional post-treatment support for this population [10,19,26], and this has been recognised in a small number of pilot and feasibility intervention studies that have reported positive outcomes [1,9,15,21].…”