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Biomedical subjects

O Poutanen

Publications and source records attributed to O Poutanen.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Attitudes towards neuroleptic treatment: reliability and validity of the attitudes towards neuroleptic treatment (ANT) questionnaire.

Non-compliance problems may rise to 50% among patients undergoing neuroleptic treatment. There are no direct measures available to predict compliance, if previous non-compliance is not taken into account. Attitudes towards neuroleptic treatment and insight into psychotic symptoms may vary during the course of the treatment process. It would be relevant to evaluate these items before taking any clinical action and later reassess the degree of change. The instrument thus far available has been the Drug Attitude Inventory. It has limitations for use with first-episode-patients and their follow-up. Its statements are dichotomous, which makes it difficult to determine the variation of attitudes e.g. during maintenance treatment, and most of the items concentrate on the subjective state of the patient, leaving attitudes as a minority in the scale. In this study, we report the new Attitudes towards Neuroleptic Treatment (ANT) questionnaire for the quantitative assessment of attitudes. We developed 10 statements for attitudes and two items for insight in the Visual Analogue Scale form (0-100 points). These were compared with the Drug Attitude Inventory 10 Questionnaire (DAI-10) (Hogan, T. P., Awad, A.G., Eastwood, R., 1983. A self-report scale predictive of drug compliance in schizophrenics: reliability and discriminative validity. Psychol. Med. 13, 177-183.) among 106 subjects receiving neuroleptic medication. The 12 Visual Analogue Scales showed a high inter-item consistency and fair test-retest validity. The results were in accordance with the DAI-10. The scales comprised three factors: general attitudes, subjective feeling and expectations and insight. Attitudes towards neuroleptic treatment and insight into psychotic symptoms are different dimensions and can be measured quantitatively. The Attitudes towards Neuroleptic Treatment scale is useful in assessing the state of attitudes before starting medication and for follow-up among patients receiving neuroleptic medication.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Risk factors for depression in primary care. Findings of the TADEP project.

BACKGROUND: Depression is a common but poorly recognized disorder in primary care. Knowing risk factors related to depression can help doctors in diagnosing and treating depressive patients. METHODS: A random sample of 1643 individuals, aged 18 to 64, attending community health centres in Central Finland, took part in an inquiry with an instrument (the DEPS) measuring their depressiveness. RESULTS: Negative life events, poor physical health, poor marital or other interpersonal relationships, spouse's poor health, poor socio-economic and work situation and problems with alcohol were the major variables explaining the variance of depressive symptoms both in regression and discriminant analyses. CONCLUSION: In the primary care patients, negative life events, poor physical health, poor marital or other interpersonal relationships, spouse's poor health, poor socio-economic and work situation and problems with alcohol indicate high risk for depression; they also often accumulate in the same patients. The connection between risk factors and depression is stronger in males than in females. LIMITATION: The assessment of depression is based on the self-fulfilled scale and cannot, therefore, be directly generalized to clinical depression. Because of the cross-sectional study design, it is not possible to make any causal conclusion between risk factors and depression. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: By paying attention to the most general risk factors of depression, general practitioners can become more sensitive in their recognition of depression.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Prevalence of depression among patients seen in community health centres and community mental health centres.

Depression is a common disorder in the general population. However, its prevalence among patients attending various health-care facilities is less well known. There have been very few Finnish studies of this topic. The Tampere Depression Project (TADEP) dealt with the prevalence of depression and factors associated with it in individuals seen in community health centres (CHC) and in psychiatric-service (PS) patients. The diagnosis of depression was based on a standardized Present State Examination interview and a DSM-III-R assessment, carried out on 436 CHC patients and 428 PS patients. The severity of depression was assessed using the Hamilton Rating Scale of Depression. About 10% of CHC patients and 50% of PS patients suffered from clinical depression. In addition to these, some depressive symptoms were displayed by just under 10% of subjects. Similar prevalence rates were obtained by the various methods used. The 1-year prevalence rate of clinical depression was 20% for the CHC patients and almost 60% for the PS patients. Mild depression represented the largest group. In the CHC group, depression was found more often in middle-aged and widowed subjects and in patients with a lower educational level and blue-collar workers than in others. In the PS group, depression was found more often in women, the oldest subjects and the widowed than in others.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Screening for depression in primary care. Development and validation of the Depression Scale, a screening instrument for depression.

Depression is a common mental disorder; effective methods for treating it are also available. Its recognition and diagnosis are prerequisite to effective treatment. A majority of depressed patients are generally managed in the primary care setting; only a half of the cases, however, are identified at their first visit. Screening instruments to improve recognition of depression have therefore been developed. The Depression Scale (DEPS), consisting of 10 items, was developed and tested in primary care patients aged 18 to 64 years. Clinical assessments were made on the basis of Present State Examination interviews with 436 patients. The DEPS proved to be satisfactory. Increasing age and poor education had an adverse effect on the screening process, however. The sensitivity of the DEPS for clinical depression was 74% and the specificity for non-depression 85%. The sensitivity for severe depression was 84% and the specificity for symptom-free patients 93%. The DEPS seems to improve the recognition of depression in primary care and may also be suitable for screening depression in the general population and for identifying high-risk groups.

Adolescent↗