Abstract: Objective: To understand the psychological distress of Radiotherapy-Induced Oral Mucositis (RTOM) in patients with head and neck tumors, and analyze the influencing factors, so as to provide a reference for the clinical development of targeted prevention or treatment measures. Methods: Totally 105 inpatients with head and neck cancer of a tertiary oncology hospital were selected by convenient sampling. The subjects were admitted from October 2018 to September 2019. A questionnaire included general information, the Distress Thermometer (DT) and Problem List (PL) was used to investigate and analyze the influencing factors of psychological distress. Results: The score of psychological distress in patients with RTOM was (4.46±1.65), of which 35 cases (33.3%) were <4 points, and 70 cases (66.7%) were ≥4 points. Logistic regression analysis showed that actual problems, communication problems, and belief/religious issues were not the influencing factors of psychological distress. Physical and emotional problems were the influencing factors of psychological distress. Conclusion: Patients with RTOM are generally suffering psychological distress. Medical staff should conduct timely assessment, focusing on patients' emotional problems. Physical problems can be alleviated by necessary nursing measures. Nursing intervention should be conducted according to the severity of psychological distress and the influencing factors, in order to reduce psychological distress of patients and improve the quality of life of patients.

Key words: oral mucositis; psychological distress; distress thermometer; influencing factor