The lived experiences of their treatment by adult females with depression

Abstract: Depression has a significant impact on disability, co-morbidity and mortality worldwide. The leading cause of disease-related disability among adult females in the world is major depression. Across all cultures, adult females are more prone and experience depression more frequently than men. Treatment guidelines recommend the continuation of anti-depressants even several months after treatment remission, but there still appears to be low levels of treatment compliance and premature termination of treatment irrespective of recommendations. There are multiple interventions available to improve treatment compliance, but it seems that there is still a need for treatment compliance interventions that are effective. There are a number of studies available that have explored the lived experiences of depression, but there remain questions relating to improved compliance amongst adult females with depression. The researcher having worked in both the public and private sector as a psychiatric professional nurse have noted across all sectors that depression is still very much treated as a biomedical illness where treatment is given to aid recovery. It has appeared to the researcher that this treatment given is rather “something that is done to” the patients with minimal patient input. When the researcher asked questions such as “why do adult females not comply with their treatment?” majority of the answers were still related to the biomedical model and answerers such as “side-effects of medication”. The researcher’s interest was triggered by the attitudes, beliefs and cognitive processes or thought processes why adult females do not comply with their treatment or terminate treatment prematurely. Given the above information, the researcher asked the following research questions: “What is the lived experiences of adult females with depression regarding their treatment?” and “What can be done by the psychiatric nurse to facilitate adult females regarding compliance with their treatment?” The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the lived experiences of adult females with depression regarding their treatment, and to formulate guidelines to assist the psychiatric nurse to facilitate adult females regarding compliance with their treatment...M.Cur. (Nursing Science