Systematic screening and assessment of psychosocial well‐being and care needs of people with cancer

Background Receiving a diagnosis of cancer and the subsequent related treatments can have a significant impact on an individual's physical and psychosocial well‐being. To ensure that cancer care addresses all aspects of well‐being, systematic screening for distress and supportive care needs is recommended. Appropriate screening could help support the integration of psychosocial approaches in daily routines in order to achieve holistic cancer care and ensure that the specific care needs of people with cancer are met and that the organisation of such care is optimised. Objectives To examine the effectiveness and safety of screening of psychosocial well‐being and care needs of people with cancer. To explore the intervention characteristics that contribute to the effectiveness of these screening interventions. Search methods We searched five electronic databases in January 2018: the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, and CINAHL. We also searched five trial registers and screened the contents of relevant journals, citations, and references to find published and unpublished trials. Selection criteria We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and non‐randomised controlled trials (NRCTs) that studied the effect of screening interventions addressing the psychosocial well‐being and care needs of people with cancer compared to usual care. These screening interventions could involve self‐reporting of people with a patient‐reported outcome measures (PROMs) or a semi‐structured interview with a screening interventionist, and comprise a solitary screening intervention or screening with guided actions. We excluded studies that evaluated screening integrated as an element in more complex interventions (e.g. therapy, coaching, full care pathways, or care programmes). Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently extracted the data and assessed methodological quality for each included study using the Cochrane tool for RCTs and the Risk Of Bias In Non‐randomised Studies ‐ of Interventions (ROBINS‐I) tool for NRCTs. Due to the high level of heterogeneity in the included studies, only three were included in meta‐analysis. Results of the remaining 23 studies were analysed narratively. Main results We included 26 studies (18 RCTs and 8 NRCTs) with sample sizes of 41 to 1012 participants, involving a total of 7654 adults with cancer. Two studies included only men or women; all other studies included both sexes