Attitudes of Nurses towards Depression and Depressive Patients: A Comperative Study

Abstract

To determine and compare mental health nurses’ and general hospital nurses’beliefs and knowledge about the etiology and treatment of depression and theirattitudes towards depressive patients.70 nurses working in a mental health hospital and 30 nurses working in a generalhospital were interviewed face to face with a questionnaire developed by PsyciatricResearch and Education Center in Turkey.The attitudes of both groups were positive towards depresssion and depressivepatients. But while mental health nurse group accepted depression as a disorder thegeneral hospital nurse group did not consider depression as a disorder but rather asan emotional state everyone can fall into from time to time in their lives. Generalhospital nurse group thought that stressfull life events caused depression more thancompared to mental heath nurse group. They bought considered depression as atreatable illness and they both thought that depression cannot be completely curedwithout resolving social problems. Non of the groups hold the opinion that people withdepression were dangerous and they put less social distance towards depressivepatients.Especially the general hospital nurse group did not consider depression as adisorder while considering schizophrenia as a mental disorder. This positive andaccepting attitude might cause the general hospital nurse group to underrecognizedepression. So this may indicate a need for a theorotical educational programmeabout depression for the general hospital nurse group