Attitudes and Practices of Primary Health Care Physicians Regarding Geriatric Depression
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- Category: Vol. 84, December 2016
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Attitudes and Practices of Primary Health Care Physicians Regarding Geriatric Depression, SAAD A. AL-ZULFAH, MOHAMMED AL-MASTOOR, ISMAIL MOHAMMED and OSSAMA A. MOSTAFA
Abstract
Aim of Study: To assess attitude and practices of primary care (PHC) physicians regarding geriatric depression.
Subjects and Methods: This study included 130 PHC physicians in Abha City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during January 2016. A self-administered questionnaire was designed and constructed by the researchers.
Results: None of PHC physicians attended any postgrad-uate training course on psychiatry, while 58.5% dealt with cases of geriatric depression. The attitude of PHC physicians toward management of geriatric depression was mainly positive (81 %), while practices of 54% of them were unsatisfactory. Most PHC physicians (79%) do not follow any clinical guide-lines for the diagnosis and management of geriatric depression, while 35.4% do not use any standard test to screen for geriatric depression. The most frequently stated barriers that face PHC physicians to diagnose and treat geriatric depression were the limited time allocated for patients (70.8%) and that elderly patients and their families do not accept the diagnosis (64.6% and 53.1%, respectively).
Conclusions: PHC physicians do not attend continuing medical education on geriatric depression. Most of them have positive attitude toward management of patients with geriatric depression, but more than half of them have unsatisfactory practices. The majority of PHC physicians do not follow any clinical guidelines for its diagnosis and management. The most frequently encountered barriers associated with diagnosis and treatment of geriatric depression are that elderly patients do not accept the diagnosis and that time given to each patient is short.
Recommendations: Continuing medical education for PHC physicians should include screening and management of geriatric depression and more time is to be allocated for elderly patients at PHC clinics. Patients should be convinced that is not stigmatizing to have a psychiatric problem.