Psychosocial distress and utilization of professional psychological care in cancer patients: An observational study in National Comprehensive Cancer Centers (CCCs) in Germany

Objective The study aimed to assess cancer patients' use of psychological care and its correlates in a large sample of cancer patients in Comprehensive Cancer Centers (CCCs) in Germany. Methods In a multicenter study in Germany, cancer patients with various diagnoses were evaluated for self‐reported use of psychological support. We measured psychological distress, depression and anxiety, quality of life, and social support with standardized questionnaires and analyzed its association with the utilization of psychological care using multivariable logistic regression. This paper focuses on a cross‐sectional analysis of the data assessed during inpatient care. Results Three thousand fifty‐four (50%) of hospitalized patients were asked for participation, and n = 1632 (53.6%) participated. We were able to analyze n = 1,398 (45.9%) patients. Three hundred ninety‐seven (28.4%) of the sample utilized psychological support. Users of psychological care were significantly younger than nonusers (odds ratio [OR]: 0.967, P