Nursing diagnosis and depressive illness.

In nursing practice, clinicians have identified specific nursing diagnoses that repeatedly emerge in depressed individuals. Specifically, chronic low self-esteem, powerlessness, and hopelessness have been linked with depressive illness and reflect Beck's cognitive theory of depression, which postulates that depressive symptoms result from a negative view of self, world, and future. The purpose of this analysis was to validate defining characteristics of three nursing diagnoses while evaluating the usefulness of the Cognitive Triad Index for specifying critical and supporting indicators for these nursing diagnoses in a population of 63 depressed adult inpatients. A patient-focused clinical diagnostic validation model was used. Results are discussed in light of previously specified defining characteristics for these diagnoses and directions for future research related to clinical validation of these diagnoses are recommended.