McCorkle and Quint-Benoliel modified the Symptom Distress Scale (SDS) developed for patients with cancer to measure symptom burden for patients with any life-threatening illness. This can help identify a patient who may benefit from interventions to reduce symptoms causing the distress. The authors are from the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington.
NOTE: The SDS for cancer is described in 01.11.06.
Symptoms:
(1) nausea, presence of
(2) nausea, intensity of
(3) pain, presence of
(4) pain, intensity of
(5) appearance
(6) appetite, loss of
(7) bowel pattern
(8) breathing
(9) concentration
(10) cough
(11) fatigue
(12) insomnia
(13) outlook
where:
• This version differs from the previous by addition of breathing and cough. The previous version included mood; the corresponding symptom is outlook. The previous version had only 1 measure for nausea and pain. The current version included a measure for mobility.
Symptom
Points
normal or near normal
1
mild
2
moderate
3
marked
4
extreme
5
total symptom distress scale =
= SUM(points for all 13 symptoms)
Interpretation:
• minimum scale: 13
• maximum scale: 65
• The symptoms are not independent. For example, worsening pain will result in higher scores for other symptoms.
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