Centre for Policy on Ageing



Attitudes to depression in hospital inpatients — a comparison between older and younger subjects
Author(s)	R L Allen, Z Walker, S S Shergill
Journal title	Aging & Mental Health, vol 2, no 1, February 1998
Pages	pp 36-39
Source	http://www.tandfonline.com
Keywords	Depression ; In-patients ; Older people ; Adults ; Attitude ; United Kingdom.
Annotation	High rates of depression in medically ill inpatients have been reported, much of which goes unrecognised. Patient' own attitudes about seeking help and their beliefs about treatments may contribute to this. This study examined the relationships between age, the presence of depressive symptoms and attitudes to depression in physically ill inpatients. One hundred and sixty patients in a district general hospital in the United Kingdom (UK) were recruited to the study and completed an Attitudes to Depression Questionnaire and a depression screening scale. Both older and younger patients showed attitudinal barriers to treatment. In addition to that, the older subjects were less willing to seek help and less likely to acknowledge depressive symptoms than the younger group. Educational interventions would seem warranted in increasing the self-awareness of depression in older people and encouraging patients to seek help more readily.
Accession Number	CPA-980409405 A
Classmark	ENR: LF7: B: SD: DP: 8
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.