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. 2019 Feb;28(1):278-287.
doi: 10.1111/inm.12531. Epub 2018 Aug 18.

Help-seeking experiences of older adults with a diagnosis of moderate depression

Meg Polacsek  1 , Gayelene H Boardman  1 , Terence V McCann  1
Affiliations

Help-seeking experiences of older adults with a diagnosis of moderate depression

Meg Polacsek et al. Int J Ment Health Nurs. 2019 Feb.

Abstract

Depression is the most prevalent mental illness among older adults. However, help-seeking by older adults is frequently delayed, resulting in longer duration of untreated symptoms, poorer health outcomes, and consequent higher healthcare use. Early help-seeking and access to appropriate support benefits individuals, while providing better outcomes from health systems constrained by limited resources. The aim of this study, which is abstracted from a larger study, was to identify the factors that inhibited and enabled formal help-seeking in older adults with a diagnosis of moderate depression. Corbin and Strauss' approach to grounded theory informed data collection and analysis. Two themes and related subthemes concerning help-seeking barriers and facilitators were abstracted from the data. Help-seeking barriers were attributable to stigma, self-motivation, accessing formal support, ageism, and difficulty obtaining an initial diagnosis. Help-seeking facilitators were accepting personal responsibility, mental health literacy, therapeutic alliances, and informal support. Findings have implications for the role of mental health nurses, who are well-placed to provide support to community-based older adults with depression. More broadly, mental health nurses and other clinicians should seek to reduce help-seeking barriers and implement ways to facilitate help-seeking in this cohort.

Keywords: barriers and facilitators; depression; grounded theory; help-seeking; mental illness; older adults.

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