Predictors of referral for psychosocial services: recommendations from the Institute of Medicine report--cancer care for the whole patient.

al1 compares referral patterns of patients with late-stage colorectal and lung cancer who were enrolled onto a study that assessed psychosocial functioning in patients with late-stage disease. The authors conducted a retrospective analysis to determine what patient-based characteris- tics predict referral for psychosocial evaluation and services. The study results indicated that younger age, being unmarried, and presence of depressive symptoms significantly predicted referral for additional services. Interestingly though, they found that fewer than 50% of patients who screened positive for depression were actually referred for psychosocial services. The study thus highlights the importance of psychosocial services for patients with cancer, which was recently addressed in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, Cancer Care for the Whole Patient: Meeting Psychosocial Health Needs.2