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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Professional carers' knowledge and response to depression among their aged-care clients
— the care recipients' perspective | | Author(s) | David Mellor, Tanya Davison, Marita McCabe |
| Journal title | Aging & Mental Health, vol 12, no 3, May 2008 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis, May 2008 |
| Pages | pp 389-399 |
| Source | http://www.tandfonline.com |
| Keywords | Depression ; Attitude ; Diagnosis ; Care home staff ; Care support workers ; Social surveys ; Australia. |
| Annotation | Depression is an under-diagnosed disorder in older people, even in those who are in receipt of aged care services. One factor associated with under-diagnosis is the reluctance of older people to discuss their mood and emotions with their medical practitioners. This Australian study focuses on why depression is not recognised and acted on by those providing residential or home-based care to older people. The authors interviewed 15 older people residing in high-level or low-level aged care facilities, and three older people who were receiving personal care in their homes. All participants had been identified by their care agencies as depressed. Participants reported their perceptions of their personal carers' knowledge and practices in managing the residents' depression. Although the participants described their carers in positive terms, they were critical of their knowledge and skills in recognising depression, and indicated that the communication between personal carers and care recipients about depressive symptomatology were seriously flawed. Training for personal carers in these areas, and efforts to change organisational culture are recommended. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-081124213 A |
| Classmark | ENR: DP: LK7: QRM: QRS: 3F: 7YA |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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