ASSESSING THE PREVALENCE OF PSYCHOSOCIAL DISTRESS AMONG PEDIATRIC AND ADOLESCENT PATIENTS WITH LEUKEMIA USING THE DISTRESS THERMOMETER TOOL, AN OBSERVATIONAL STUDY

A leukemia diagnosis causes psychosocial distress in a significant number of patients. When this psychosocial need goes unattended, it can negatively affect their course of treatment. To prevent this issue, the Distress Thermometer (DT) allows a quick and valid way for patients/parents to self-report distress on a scale of 0-10, including identification of the distress source. This study descriptively evaluates the differences in distress prevalence from different demographic factors such as ethnicity, gender, leukemia type, and age.