Date of Conferral
2018
Degree
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
School
Health Services
Advisor
Barbara Gross
Abstract
Depression is a pervasive mental health disorder worldwide. Although being diagnosed with chronic illness exacerbates susceptibility to depression, detection and subsequent treatment of comorbid depression in primary care settings remain suboptimal because patients with chronic medical disorders are not commonly screened for depression. There is a need to initiate proactive measures by implementing routine screening in primary care settings. The plan-do-study-act (PDSA) model guided an intervention to establish a depression screening practice. This study aimed to determine if the implementation of evidence-based screening for depression using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) tool could increase diagnosis of comorbid depression among patients suffering from chronic diseases. Convenience sampling served as the method for selecting healthcare records that met the predetermined criteria. Two hundred established patients over 18 years of age were screened for depression at a primary care clinic in Maryland within a 10-week period following Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) criteria. Study participants included 84 (42%) males and 116 (58%) females. Of these, 84 (42%) had minimal depression, 57 (29%) had mild depression, 23 (12%) had moderate depression, 24 (12%) had moderate-severe depression, and 12 (6%) had severe depression. The baseline report from the clinic revealed 0% depression screening practices yet the post-project chart review revealed a surprisingly high rate of depression diagnosis in 34 (17%) of 200 patients suffering from chronic illnesses. Identification of a reliable tool that would be used to screen depression among patients with chronic diseases at primary care clinics to mitigate the deleterious effects of depression and promote the well-being and health of patients and their families is important.
Recommended Citation
AlliBalogun, Linda Hasssan, "The Effectiveness of Screening for Comorbid Depression Among Outpatients With Chronic Diseases in Maryland" (2018). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 4993.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/4993
