TITLE:
Characteristics of Depressed Patients Treated in Rural Areas of Chile
AUTHORS:
Ariel Castro-Lara, Viviana Guajardo, Rosemarie Fritsch, Ruben Alvarado, Graciela Rojas
KEYWORDS:
Depression; Mental Health; Rural Health
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.4 No.11A,
November
29,
2013
ABSTRACT:
Objective: To
describe a group of depressed patients that participated in a clinical intervention
to improve depression treatment in rural areas. Materials and Methods: It is a
clinical intervention for depressed patients from 15 rural hospitals. The
principal outcome is depressive symptomatology measured with the Beck
Depression Inventory (BDI), and the secondary outcome is quality of life. The
intervention consists of a collaborative program between primary care teams and
specialized teams, with support from an electronic platform and a call center. Results:
254 subjects—13.8% men and 86.2% women—were recruited, with an age
range between 18 and 65 years. The majority had a stable partner and attended
high school. Homemakers made up 47.4% of the sample, and 38.7% were employed.
The average BDI score was 29.8 (s. d. = 9.2). There was a history of previous
depressive episodes in 42.9% of the cases, 37.4% presented severe suicide risk,
and 59.1% had a comorbid anxiety disorder. Conclusion: It is a clinical sample
of patients with severe depressive symptoms who are treated by primary care
physicians in rural zones. The sample had comorbid anxiety and poor quality of
life associated with their mental illness.