Regular Research ArticlesIdentification of and Beliefs About Depressive Symptoms and Preferred Treatment Approaches Among Community-Living Older African Americans
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OBJECTIVES
Depression, one of the most common and debilitating conditions in late life, continues to be underdetected and undertreated, particularly among older African Americans.1, 2, 3 In primary care, the principal setting for depression treatment with older adults, providers are less likely to spend time on mental health concerns, identify symptomatology, or offer treatment options to African Americans compared with whites.3, 4, 5 A recent national probability survey6 shows that most older African
Sample
Participants were recruited between September 2008 and August 2009 using advertisements in a Philadelphia senior center membership newsletter, Center in the Park. Eligible participants were community-living, self-identified as African American, and willing to participate in up to a 2 hour face-to-face interview. Individuals were excluded with cognitive impairment (6-item Mini-Mental State Examination telephone screen) and if in assisted living. Interested Center in the Park members contacted an
RESULTS
Overall, participants were on average 73.0 (SD = 7.8) years of age, were primarily female, single, with most having high school education or higher and reporting minimal difficulty paying for basics. Participants had an average of 5.5 (SD = 2.8) health conditions, and reported having some functional difficulty and pain. Also, this sample reported minimal use of religious/spiritual coping strategies. (Table 1)
As to sex differences, a smaller percentage of women were married than men (Pearson χ2 [
DISCUSSION
The key findings of this study are that for the sample overall, most participants recognized depressive symptoms (88.2%), endorsed active symptom management strategies (>80%), were willing to take medications (69.3%) and engage in other mental health treatments (≥75% for individual therapy, support groups, and seeing a doctor) if depressed. Only a third endorsed negative help-seeking strategies (35% would wait for feelings to pass). Although we did not have specific hypotheses regarding
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Cited by (0)
This research was conducted by Dr. Gitlin and the research team while at the Jefferson Center for Applied Research on Aging and Health, Thomas Jefferson University.
The authors thank the In Touch Mind Body & Spirit Team at Center in the Park, Executive Director and co-investigator, Lynn Fields Harris, Associate Director and co-investigator Renee Cunningham, and project manager, Delores Palmer.
This work was supported in part by funds from the National Institute of Mental Health (grants R24 MH074779, RO1 MH079814).
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.