Predictors of Treatments Acceptable to Patients for Late-Life Depression

Creator(s)

Gerald J. Jogerst, University of Iowa
Shimin Zheng, East Tennessee State UniversityFollow
Erik Vanderlip, University of Iowa

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2013

Description

Objectives. Describe older patients’ perceptions about depression and characteristics associated with acceptance of treatments. Design. Cross-sectional study. Setting. Three primary care clinics in Iowa. Participants. Consecutive sample of 529 primary care patients. Measurements. Depression screening tool (a 9-item patient health questionnaire [PHQ-9]) and questionnaire including sociodemographic data, patient attitudes about depression, and acceptability of different treatments. Results. Mean age was 71.9 years (range 60–93 years), 314 (59%) female. Among the 529 participants, 93 (17.5%) had history of depression and 60 (11.3%) had PHQ-9 scores of 10 or greater. Participants believed depression is a disease for which they would use medication and counseling. Accepting medications from primary physicians was strongly associated with a past history of depression (P < 0.01) and with agreeing that depression needs treatment (P < 0.01). Counseling was not acceptable for those believing that they can control depression on their own (P < 0.01). Older patients (P < 0.001) and those with higher education levels (P < 0.01) were less likely to accept herbs or supplements as treatment options. Willingness to discuss treatments with family was associated with not using alcohol as a treatment and acceptance of all other treatment options (P < 0.001). Conclusions. Attitude that depression is a disease and the willingness to discuss depression with family may enhance treatment acceptance.

Posted Versions

Published PDF

Copyright Statement

Copyright © 2013 Gerald J. Jogerst et al. This document was originally published in The Scientific World Journal.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Citation Information

Jogerst, Gerald J.; Zheng, Shimin; and Vanderlip, Erik. 2013. Predictors of Treatments Acceptable to Patients for Late-Life Depression. The Scientific World Journal. Vol.2013 207493. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/207493 ISSN: 1537-744X