Unit:
Κατεύθυνση Προαγωγή και Αγωγή της ΥγείαςLibrary of the School of Health Sciences
Supervisors info:
Πολίτης Αντώνιος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, Ε.Κ.Π.Α., Επιβλέπων
Τούντας Ιωάννης, Καθηγητής, Ιατρική Σχολή, Ε.Κ.Π.Α.
Μπενέτου Βασιλική, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, Ε.Κ.Π.Α.
Original Title:
Αξιολόγηση στάσεων, γνώσεων και πρακτικών των γιατρών πρωτοβάθμιας φροντίδας ως προς την αναγνώριση και αντιμετώπιση της γηριατρικής κατάθλιψης
Translated title:
Assessment of attitudes, knowledge and practices of primary care physicians regarding the recognition and treatment of geriatric depression
Summary:
Introduction: Depression is “the leading cause of disability worldwide” for more than 350 million people. Depression in the elderly occurs in people over the age of 65 and 7% of the elderly population in the world seems to suffer from it. Although in the most cases it is believed that it can be cured that this age group does not systematically detect its existence by healthcare professionals in primary care, it makes it untreatable. This research evaluates the attitudes, barriers and needs of healthcare professionals in the diagnosis and treatment of geriatric depression.
Methods: The survey involved 70 physicians working in the public and private sectors in primary care in Athens and Tripoli. The research focused on the recording and assessment of doctors' attitudes towards geriatric depression, the obstacles they encounter in detecting them and their needs in order to improve their detection and treatment in their practice.
Results: A total of 70 people participated in the survey. Of these, 38% were men, while 32% were women. Participants replied that 45.16% of their geriatric patients suffered from depression. 25.7% of participants are used to diagnosing depression. Physicians have argued that greater emphasis should be placed on the link between mental and physical health in their medical education and have indicated that it is very helpful to have mental health services in primary care.
Conclusions: The purpose of the research was to understand the way in which geriatric depression is diagnosed and treated in primary care. Generally, physicians seemed to use methods to detect depression in geriatric patients without being confident of managing it.
Main subject category:
Health Sciences
Keywords:
Depression, Geriatric depression, Primary care
