Falling off the screening grid—Predictors for postponed utilization of psycho‐oncological support in cancer patients and its implications for distress assessment and management

Objective Distress assessment of cancer patients is considered state‐of‐the‐art. In addition to distress scores, individual care needs are an important factor for the initiation of psycho‐oncological interventions. In a mono‐centric, observational study, we aimed for characterization of patients indicating a subjective need but declining to utilize support services immediately to facilitate implementation of adapted screenings. Methods This study analyzed retrospective data from routine distress screening and associated data from hospital records. Descriptive, variance and regression analyses were used to assess characteristics of postponed support utilization in patients with mixed cancer diagnoses in different treatment settings. Results Of the total sample (N = 1863), 13% indicated a subjective need but postponed support utilization. This subgroup presented as being as burdened by symptoms of depression (p