Learning Objective #1: understand the symptomatic distress and related factors for patients with SARS.

Learning Objective #2: understand the predictors concerning with overall symptoms distress for patients with SARS.

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Abstract: Aim. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the symptomatic distress and related factors for patients with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Method.This was a retrospective study. Participantsˇ¦ medical records were reviewed via the constructive scales. Tools of this study included baseline characteristics and symptomatic distress scale. Expertsˇ¦ validity was applied to assess the content, and reliability of this study was determined by Cronbach's alpha .873. All data collected was analyzed by SPSS/windows statistic analysis software for descriptive and inference analysis. Results. The results indicated the entire symptomatic distress scores was 1.66 and respiratory symptomatic distress (M=2.31) scores was ranked as the highest. The variables of unstable blood pressure, fatigue and rapid breathing rate were ranked as the first three symptoms distress. The predictors related to overall symptoms distress included the endo-tracheal intubations, age and hemodialysis. The explained variance was 45.6%. This indicated the degree of overall symptoms distress higher if the participants who were intubations, older and hemodialysis. Conclusions. The findings probably provide information for health care givers to understand SARS patientsˇ¦ symptoms distress and related factors in order to deliver better quality of medical and nursing care.