McCorkle and Young developed a scale for measuring symptom distress in patients with cancer. The scale consists of 10 symptoms of greatest concern to the patients with cancer. The authors are from the University of Washington in Seattle.
|
Symptom |
No Distress |
Maximum Distress |
|
nausea |
I do not feel sick at all. |
I feel as sick as I could possibly be. |
|
mood |
Could not feel happier. |
Could not feel more miserable. |
|
appetite |
Normal appetite. |
Cannot face food at all. |
|
insomnia |
A perfect night's sleep. |
Could not have been worse. |
|
pain |
No pain. |
Worst pain I have ever had. |
|
mobility |
I am able to do everything. |
Not able to get around. |
|
fatigue |
I am not tired at all. |
Could not feel more tired. |
|
bowel pattern |
Normal bowel pattern |
The worst I have ever had. |
|
concentration |
Normal concentration. |
Cannot concentrate at all. |
|
appearance |
Appearance has not changed. |
The worst I have ever had. |
after Figure 2, page 375
Symptoms are graded on a scale of 1 to 5.
|
Distress |
Points |
|
no distress |
1 |
|
low distress |
1 or 2 |
|
moderate distress |
3 |
|
high distress |
4 or 5 |
|
maximal distress |
5 |
total score =
= SUM(points for all 10 symptoms)
Interpretation:
• minimum score: 10
• maximum score: 50
• The higher the score, the greater the distress caused by the symptoms.
ICD-10: ,
