Table 3.
Percentage of responses in each agreement category and mean score for individual items
| |
Agreement (%) |
Mean score (SD) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Agree | Neutral | Disagree | ||
|
Factor I: Depression should be treated by psychiatrists |
54.0 |
43.3 |
2.7 |
68.1 (17.2) |
| 13 Working with depressed patients is heavy going. |
59.9 |
33.7 |
6.4 |
67.1 (20.8) |
| 17 If depressed patients need antidepressants, they are better off with a psychiatrist than with a general practitioner. |
57.2 |
34.2 |
8.6 |
68.1 (22.3) |
| 19 Psychotherapy for depressed patients should be left to a specialist. |
62.0 |
27.8 |
10.2 |
69.1 (24.1) |
|
Factor II: Pessimism regarding depression treatments |
2.1 |
54.5 |
43.3 |
35.5 (13.4) |
| 1 During the last 5 years, I have seen an increase in the number of patients presenting with depressive symptoms. |
56.7 |
39.6 |
3.7 |
68.9 (20.1) |
| 14 There is little to be offered to those depressed patients who do not respond to what GPs do. |
4.8 |
35.8 |
59.4 |
30.4 (20.1) |
| 15 It is rewarding to spend time looking after depressed patients. |
44.4 |
47.1 |
8.6 |
62.4 (19.3) |
| 16 Psychotherapy tends to be unsuccessful with depressed patients. |
11.2 |
55.6 |
33.2 |
42.8 (19.9) |
|
Factor III: Prejudice regarding depression etiology and pathology |
5.9 |
77.0 |
17.1 |
46.9 (14.6) |
| 6 It is possible to distinguish two main groups of depression: one psychological in origin and the other caused by biochemical mechanisms. |
29.4 |
57.2 |
13.4 |
55.7 (21.4) |
| 7 Becoming depressed is a way that people with poor stamina deal with life difficulties. |
12.3 |
34.2 |
53.5 |
35.1 (24.3) |
| 8 Depressed patients are more likely to have experienced deprivation in early life than other people. |
17.6 |
55.1 |
27.3 |
45.5 (20.8) |
| 10 Depression reflects a characteristic response in patients which is not amenable to change. |
27.3 |
48.1 |
24.6 |
51.3 (23.6) |
|
Items not included in any factor |
|
|
|
|
| 2 The majority of depression seen in general practice originates from patients' recent misfortunes. |
27.8 |
56.1 |
16.0 |
54.6 (20.1) |
| 3 Most depressive disorders seen in general practice improve without medication. |
6.4 |
39.6 |
54.0 |
35.1 (19.9) |
| 4 An underlying biochemical abnormality is at the basis of severe cases of depression. |
38.5 |
42.2 |
19.3 |
56.2 (24.1) |
| 5 It is difficult to differentiate whether patients are presenting with unhappiness or a clinical depressive disorder that needs treatment. |
43.9 |
40.1 |
16.0 |
59.0 (22.8) |
| 9 I feel comfortable in dealing with depressed patients' needs. |
0 |
16.0 |
84.0 |
19.4 (14.0) |
| 11 Becoming depressed is a natural part of being old. |
10.2 |
40.1 |
49.7 |
36.0 (23.3) |
| 12 The practice nurse could be a useful person to support depressed patients. |
67.4 |
28.3 |
4.3 |
72.7 (19.2) |
| 18 Antidepressants usually produce a satisfactory result in the treatment of depressed patients in general practice. |
41.7 |
45.5 |
12.8 |
59.1 (20.5) |
| 20 If psychotherapy were freely available, this would be more beneficial than antidepressants for most depressed patients. | 27.3 | 56.7 | 16.0 | 53.3 (21.6) |
Each item score and factor score was divided for summary presentation: disagree (0-33.3), neutral (33.4-66.6), agree (66.7-100).
We calculated the mean score of items included in each factor derived from the factor analysis and defined this as the “factor score.” If item loadings were negative values, the subtracted values from 100 were used in the calculation.