Table 5.
Depression Attitude Scale questionnaire results - only statements with a significant difference between GPs and psychiatrists are shown
| Statement | Physicians who agreed with the statement (%)a | |
|---|---|---|
| Psychiatrists | GPs | |
| A1. Since starting my practice, I have seen an increase in the number of patients presenting with depressive symptoms | 54 | 82*** |
| A3. Most depressive disorders seen in general practice improve without medication | 20 | 16** |
| A4. An underlying biochemical abnormality is the basis of severe cases of depression | 86 | 73* |
| A5. It is difficult to differentiate whether patients are presenting with unhappiness or a clinical depressive disorder that needs treatment | 11 | 29*** |
| A8. Patients with depression are more likely to have experienced deprivation in early life than other people | 54 | 37** |
| A9. I feel comfortable in dealing with the needs of patients with depression | 87 | 55*** |
| A10. Depression reflects a characteristic response in patients which is not amenable to change | 2 | 7* |
| A12. The nurse could be a useful person to support patients with depression | 87 | 53*** |
| A13. Working with patients with depression is heavy going | 46 | 68*** |
| A14. There is little to be offered to those patients with depression who do not respond to treatment by GPs | 10 | 23*** |
| A15. It is rewarding looking after patients with depression | 78 | 45*** |
| A16. Psychotherapy tends to be unsuccessful in patients with depression | 2 | 11** |
| A17. If patients with depression need antidepressants, they are better off with a psychiatrist than with a GP | 54 | 3*** |
| A18. Antidepressants usually produce a satisfactory result in the treatment of patients with depression in general practice | 29 | 82*** |
| A19. Psychotherapy for patients with depression should be left to a specialist | 74 | 47*** |
| A20. If psychotherapy was freely available, this would be more beneficial than antidepressants for most patients with depression | 12 | 26** |
GP, general practitioner.
*p ≤ 0.05; **p ≤ 0.01; ***p ≤ 0.001 for differences between the physician groups.
aPhysicians who 'tended to agree' or 'strongly agree' with the statement on the Likert scale were compared to the others by the chi-square test.