School of Nursing, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
Department of Nursing, The First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China.
Front Public Health. 2023 Jul 25;11:1124397. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1124397. eCollection 2023.
Depression is a prevalent mental health issue among adolescents, and timely treatment can prevent it from worsening. However, many adolescent depressed patients delay seeking medical treatment. To clarify the reasons for delayed medical treatment in adolescent depressed patients and to provide reference to help adolescent depressed patients to seek medical treatment on time.
From July 2022 to March 2023, a semi-structured interview was conducted using a purposive sampling method with adolescent depressed patients attending the Mental Health Center of the First Hospital of Shanxi Medical University. Based on inclusion and exclusion criteria, 22 adolescent depression inpatients with delayed access to medical care were finally included as the study population. This study applied the phenomenological research method in qualitative research and used the Colaizzi seven-step data analysis method to analyze and refine the interview data.
The study found that 22 adolescents with depression delayed medical care for 1-6 years, with a mean of 2.86 years. Six themes were identified as the reasons for delayed medical treatment: (1) inadequate levels of mental health literacy; (2) lack of disease-related knowledge and information; (3) negative emotional experiences; (4) negative attitudes toward health care; (5) inadequate medical insurance policy for psychotherapy; (6) unequal distribution of resources for mental health medical services.
The phenomenon of delayed medical treatment for adolescent depression patients should not be ignored. Efforts should be made to explore the trajectory of delayed illness in adolescents with depression, improve patient symptom assessment, improve poor patient experience, promote positive patient behavior, and improve the current situation of delayed medical treatment for adolescent depression patients through the joint efforts of individuals, families, schools, and society.
抑郁症是青少年中普遍存在的心理健康问题，及时治疗可以防止病情恶化。然而，许多青少年抑郁症患者会延迟就医。为了明确青少年抑郁症患者延迟就医的原因，为帮助青少年抑郁症患者及时就医提供参考。
本研究采用目的抽样法，于 2022 年 7 月至 2023 年 3 月，选取在山西医科大学第一医院精神卫生中心就诊的 22 例青少年抑郁症延迟就医患者进行半结构式访谈。根据纳入和排除标准，最终纳入 22 例青少年抑郁症延迟就医患者作为研究对象。本研究采用质性研究中的现象学研究方法，运用 Colaizzi 7 步分析法对访谈资料进行分析和提炼。
本研究发现，22 例青少年抑郁症患者延迟就医时间为 1~6 年，平均为 2.86 年。确定了 6 个导致延迟就医的主题：（1）心理健康素养水平不足；（2）缺乏疾病相关知识和信息；（3）消极的情绪体验；（4）对医疗保健的消极态度；（5）心理治疗医疗保险政策不足；（6）心理健康医疗服务资源分配不均。
青少年抑郁症患者延迟就医的现象不容忽视。应努力探索青少年抑郁症患者的发病轨迹，提高患者的症状评估，改善患者的不良就医体验，促进患者积极就医行为，通过个人、家庭、学校和社会的共同努力，改善青少年抑郁症患者的延迟就医现状。
