Predictors of Treatments Acceptable to Patients for Late-Life Depression

Abstract EN

|Objectives.

Describe older patients’ perceptions about depression and characteristics associated with acceptance of treatments.

Design.

Cross-sectional study.

Setting.

Three primary care clinics in Iowa.

Participants.

Consecutive sample of 529 primary care patients.

Measurements.

Depression screening tool (a 9-item patient health questionnaire [PHQ-9]) and questionnaire including sociodemographic data, patient attitudes about depression, and acceptability of different treatments.

Results.

Mean age was 71.9 years (range 60–93 years), 314 (59%) female.

Among the 529 participants, 93 (17.5%) had history of depression and 60 (11.3%) had PHQ-9 scores of 10 or greater.

Participants believed depression is a disease for which they would use medication and counseling.

Accepting medications from primary physicians was strongly associated with a past history of depression (P<0.01) and with agreeing that depression needs treatment (P<0.01).

Counseling was not acceptable for those believing that they can control depression on their own (P<0.01).

Older patients (P<0.001) and those with higher education levels (P<0.01) were less likely to accept herbs or supplements as treatment options.

Willingness to discuss treatments with family was associated with not using alcohol as a treatment and acceptance of all other treatment options (P<0.001).

Conclusions.

Attitude that depression is a disease and the willingness to discuss depression with family may enhance treatment acceptance.