Development of ADAF screening tool for emotional and coping problems in cancer patients

ABSTRACT Purpose Psychological screening in patient with cancer is recommended by clinical guidelines, however most of scales have large number of items, difficulty detection and refer from routine consultations. The specific objective of the study was to develop and validate the ADAF screening for anxiety, depression and coping. Methods/Patients Cross-sectional, multicenter study performed in the medical and radiotherapy oncology services of 5 hospitals in Madrid, coordinated by the Medical Oncology Service of the Hospital Clínico San Carlos (CEIC nº19 / 265-E). To determine the psychometric properties, the ADAF screening questionnaire ADAF was administered, including 5 items (one related to anxiety symptoms, two related to depressive symptoms, one for helplessness coping and one for avoidance coping), and as a gold-standard the HADS and the MiniMAC. Intraclass correlation coefficients and receiver operating characteristic curves were performed. The p value <0.05 was considered significant. Results A total of 186 patients completed the evaluation. The correlation coefficients were significant for all dimensions (Anxiety, Depression, Helplessness coping, and Avoidance Coping), with p 2 points (3 in the case of depression, having two items), with a sensitivity and specificity between 62 and 90%, depending on the item, and an area under the curve above 0.8 for the first 4 items. Conclusions ADAF screening has adequate reliability, good sensitivity and specificity. This instrument is useful and easy to use to identify emotional and coping problems in cancer patients.