[Need for psychosocial management of facial and skin tumor patients]. / Psychosozialer Betreuungsbedarf bei Gesichts- und Hauttumorpatienten.

Starting from the current level of research on the amount and detection of support requirements of tumour patients a lack of practicable screening instruments in psychooncology becomes evident for valid and reliable identification of highly distressed patients in order to offer them treatment-integrated specific interventions. The following report bases on the results of a research project with facial and skin cancer patients and so closes the gap. Patients in need of support can be identified by means of the "Hornheide Questionnaire", developed for this purpose. The support requirement is ascertained by a connexion of a patient self-assessment and an expert-defined cut-off point. Extensive data concerning support requirements and indications are presented and discussed.

[Quality of life of patients with malignant facial and skin tumors--development of a questionnaire and initial findings of a study]. / Lebensqualität von Patienten mit bösartigen Gesichts- und Hauttumoren--Entwicklung eines Fragebogens und erste Ergebnisse einer Studie.

Assisted by Deutsche Krebshilfe, the German cancer aid fund, a questionnaire for assessment of quality of life in patients with life-threatening skin tumours and disfiguring tumour sequels was developed at Fachklinik Hornheide between 1986 and 1988. A first step toward determining quality of life and for enhancing treatment-integrated rehabilitative work is the assessment of the subjective distress and problems experienced due to the illness and its treatment. This is the objective of the Hornheider Fragebogen, a questionnaire developed in the framework of the study on the basis of extensive literature search, structured interviews with patients and treating staff. This self-assessment instrument was answered by 131 patients with malignant tumours of the skin, twice during in-patient treatment and a third time some 6 months after discharge. Statistical analysis of the data collected proved the questionnaire to be valid, reliable and practicable. Additionally, it has been possible to draw up a number of significant results of immediate relevancy. It turned out that persons who are unemployed, divorced, or married but separated, as well as persons without school leaving certificate, experienced greater distress and more problems in many dimensions than the other respondents. The questionnaire was viewed as meaningful and as helpful by the patients in order to voice unspecific anxiety and questions. Also, the study entailed positive implications for our rehabilitative work already in this initial testing phase, by enabling us to give more specific support to the patients. The Hornheider Fragebogen, after review and abridgment, consists of 27 problem-oriented questions relating to eight dimensions of life.