Martínez-Hernáez et al. (2014) conducted a study seeking to determine the possible reasons that might contribute to the failure of seeking professional help among young adults that had been diagnosed with or showed depressive symptoms. 105 young adults between the ages of 17 – 21 years and were residents of Catalonia were included in the qualitative study. This population sample had previously taken part in a national survey on adolescents.
The sample population was divided into three focus groups (35 controls, 37 with a diagnosis of depression and 33 with self-perceived distress). An in-depth face-to-face interview involving an imaginary case study and an hour-long questionnaire was conducted for each of the focus groups. The case study related to imaginary depression without the mention of depression and was matched to the participant’s gender. The questionnaire was designed by in-house guidelines and with contributions from external experts and professionals on depression. The interview questions centered on depression explanatory models, the encounters with depression and the plausible reasons for failing to seek professional help. The interviews brought forth the participants reflections and views on depressions and the processes of seeking professional help on depression which were then recorded and transcribed verbatim.
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Only 21 of the 105 participants expressed willingness to seek professional help for depression. These participants had a positive perception of the experiences with the professional depression managers. These participants held a view that emotional distress was a health problem. This awareness of problematizing emotional distress, coupled with advice from the participant’s social network was the basis for seeking the care. The larger percentage of the participants opted not to seek professional advice citing reasons such as stigmatization, self-reliance, normalization of the problem, and the perception that seeking the professional help is not necessary. Reasons such as inaccessibility to professional help, ignorance about professional help or inappropriate protocols and modalities used by the depression experts were least cited. Gender was also found to be contributing factor in the determination of the willingness to seek professional care. The young male adults conformed to cultural notions of masculinity, while the young female adults were skeptical about the professional help because of previous negative experiences while seeking the professional mental help.
The study concluded that most depression issues occur before the age of 25, and are characterized by varied social and clinical implications. The preventive measures and the functional organization of the mental health services are however not apt to meet the population’s professional care needs. The reasons offered by the participants themselves formed the basis for the study recommendations on ways of improving the accessibility to the professional depression help services. Also, the study results and discussion point out the policy modifications that are required to make the mental health services well adapted and suitable to mitigate depression in the young adults. In an attempt to negate from the propensity to avoid professional help, the young adults are advised to avoid the tendency to normalize the distress and instead problematize it.
Strengths and limitations of the study
The study gives a comprehensive insight into the various categories of professional help avoidance among the various affected population subgroups. This was the first study to be performed in Catalonia that centered on the young adults with depression tendencies or those having been diagnosed with depression and thereby provided a well-furnished baseline for the comparative analysis with other European studies along the same study lines.
The study only centers on the perspectives of the young adults, without involving the mental health professionals. The perspectives of the mental health professionals would have been useful in ascertaining the extent of the avoidance as a result of help-related service. The study also does not incorporate the use of observational data to determine the spatial causative relationships on the use or avoidance of the professional help services.
PICOT: In adolescents what is the effect of early medical intervention compared to non-seeking medical intervention on symptoms of depression within six months?
The aspects of the study population, intervention, and control population are well stipulated in the study. The study deals with young adults and adolescents between the ages of 17 – 21 years. The study population was divided into three groups, one of which was the control group. The intervention that was being explored was professional mental help sought. However, there was a discrepancy in the study outcome and the period. The PICOT outcome focused on the effects of the early medical intervention. The study, on the other hand, was focused on the possible reasons that contributed to the acceptance or avoidance of seeking help among the depressed young adults. The study explored these effects for all the 105 participants over six months (March – October 2011). The participants were variedly spread over this 6-month period as each participant was separately interviewed. The study was not a follow through research for all the participants over the six months simultaneously. While the study met the PICOT prerequisites in some aspects, it cannot be fully applicable to the PICOT without slight adjustments being made to the PICOT parameters.
The study results and recommendations contribute to the restructuring of the healthcare service to suit the specific needs of the individual in the population. The critical analysis and evaluation of the study parameters and outcomes can be incorporated into the designing of the care plan, in line with the nursing Evidence-Based Practice guidelines.
References
Martínez-Hernáez, A., DiGiacomo, S. M., Carceller-Maicas, N., Correa-Urquiza, M., & Martorell-Poveda, M. A. (2014). Non-professional-help-seeking among young people with depression: a qualitative study. BMC psychiatry , 14 (1), 124.
