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Hundred forty eight more days with depression
 — the association between marital conflict and depression-free days
Author(s)Mijung Park, Jurgen Unutzer
Journal titleInternational Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 29, no 12, December 2014
PublisherWiley Blackwell, December 2014
Pagespp 1271-1277
Sourcewww.orangejournal.org
KeywordsDepression ; Married couples ; Personal relationships ; Elder abuse ; Psychiatric treatment ; Evaluation.
AnnotationAlthough collaborative care programmes are effective in improving late-life depression, only about half of treated patients achieve clinically meaningful improvement. Thus there is a need to examine what characteristics may predict poor late-life depression course. Despite the robust evidence for the negative association between the quality of couple relationships and depression outcomes, few studies have examined these associations in the context of long-term late-life depression course. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between the severity of couple conflict, receiving collaborative depression care programme, and 24-months depression outcomes. The study sample comprised 840 depressed older adults subsample from the Improving Mood, Promoting Access to Collaborative Treatment for late-life depression trial (IMPACT). Depression and couple conflict were assessed at baseline, 12-month and 24-month follow-up. Descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analyses were performed to examine mean 24-month depression-free days (DFDs) and the marginal effects of receiving IMPACT programme over usual care among participants with varying degrees of 24-month couple conflict. Compared with those who never endorsed frequent couple conflict over the three observation points, those who did twice had 63 fewer DFDs, and those who did three times experienced 148 fewer DFDs. Although the marginal effects of receiving IMPACT programme over usual care was greater in the overall sample, it was not statistically significant among those who endorsed frequent conflict at two or three times. The study concludes that frequent couple conflict is associated with worse long-term late-life depression outcomes among the patients in primary care clinics. (JL).
Accession NumberCPA-150529265 A
ClassmarkENR: SM: DS: QNT: LP: 4C

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