Atkins Joanna, Naismith Sharon L, Luscombe Georgina M, Hickie Ian B
Brain and Mind Research Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
School of Rural Health, Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Orange, NSW, Australia.
Clin Interv Aging. 2015 Jan 20;10:287-95. doi: 10.2147/CIA.S70086. eCollection 2015.
This study aims to examine perceptions of the helpfulness of treatments/interventions for depression held by elderly care recipients, to examine whether these beliefs are related to help-seeking and whether the experience of depression affects beliefs about treatment seeking, and to identify the characteristics of help-seekers.
One hundred eighteen aged care recipients were surveyed on their beliefs about the helpfulness of a variety of treatments/interventions for depression, on their actual help-seeking behaviors, and on their experience of depression (current and past).
From the sample, 32.4% of the participants screened positive for depression on the Geriatric Depression Scale, and of these, 24.2% reported receiving treatment. Respondents believed the most helpful treatments for depression were increasing physical activity, counseling, and antidepressant medication. Help-seeking from both professional and informal sources appeared to be related to belief in the helpfulness of counseling and antidepressants; in addition, help-seeking from informal sources was also related to belief in the helpfulness of sleeping tablets and reading self-help books. In univariate analyses, lower levels of cognitive impairment and being in the two lower age tertiles predicted a greater likelihood of help-seeking from professional sources, and female sex and being in the lower two age tertiles predicted greater likelihood of help-seeking from informal sources. In multivariate analyses, only lower levels of cognitive impairment remained a significant predictor of help-seeking from professional sources, whereas both lower age and female sex continued to predict a greater likelihood of help-seeking from informal sources.
Beliefs in the helpfulness of certain treatments were related to the use of both professional and informal sources of help, indicating the possibility that campaigns or educational programs aimed at changing beliefs about treatments may be useful in older adults.
本研究旨在调查老年护理接受者对抑郁症治疗/干预措施有效性的看法,研究这些看法是否与寻求帮助有关,以及抑郁症经历是否会影响对寻求治疗的看法,并确定寻求帮助者的特征。
对118名老年护理接受者进行了调查,内容包括他们对各种抑郁症治疗/干预措施有效性的看法、实际的寻求帮助行为以及他们的抑郁症经历(当前和过去)。
在样本中,32.4%的参与者在老年抑郁量表上筛查出抑郁症呈阳性,其中24.2%报告接受了治疗。受访者认为对抑郁症最有帮助的治疗方法是增加体育活动、咨询和抗抑郁药物。向专业和非专业来源寻求帮助似乎都与相信咨询和抗抑郁药物的有效性有关;此外,向非专业来源寻求帮助也与相信安眠药和阅读自助书籍的有效性有关。在单变量分析中,较低的认知障碍水平以及处于两个较低年龄三分位数预测了从专业来源寻求帮助的可能性更大,而女性以及处于两个较低年龄三分位数预测了从非专业来源寻求帮助的可能性更大。在多变量分析中,只有较低的认知障碍水平仍然是从专业来源寻求帮助的显著预测因素,而较低的年龄和女性仍然预测从非专业来源寻求帮助的可能性更大。
对某些治疗方法有效性的看法与使用专业和非专业帮助来源有关,这表明旨在改变对治疗看法的宣传活动或教育项目可能对老年人有用。