Training health professionals in the recognition and treatment of depression

Abstract

A total of 423 health professionals, including physicians, psychologists, counselors, social workers, and nurses, attended a two-day program to increase awareness, recognition, and treatment of depression. In a preprogram opinion survey, nurses and social workers reported less perceived ability to recognize mood disorders compared with physicians and psychologists. In a group of 274 respondents who took a 20-item test of their knowledge about depression before and after attending the program, scores for all professions increased after the program and pretest differences in scores between professions decreased. The results suggest that training was successful in increasing knowledge about depression among a diverse group of health professionals.