General practitioners' views towards diagnosing and treating depression in five southeastern European countries.

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Country of Publication: Australia NLM ID: 101320027 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1751-7893 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 17517885 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Early Interv Psychiatry Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: Carlton,VIC, Australia : Wiley-Blackwell

General Practitioners*; Depression/*diagnosis ; Depression/*therapy; Adolescent ; Albania ; Attitude of Health Personnel ; Bulgaria ; Child ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Family Practice ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Moldova ; Primary Health Care ; Psychiatry ; Romania ; Serbia ; Surveys and Questionnaires

Aim: To assess and compare general practitioners' (GPs') views of diagnosing and treating depression in five southeastern European countries.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in Albania, Bulgaria, Moldova, Romania, and Serbia. The sample included 467 GPs who completed a hard-copy self-administered questionnaire, consisting of self-assessment questions related to diagnosing and treating depression.
Results: The most common barriers to managing depression in general practice reported by GPs were: patients' unwillingness to discuss depressive symptoms (92.3%); appointment time too short to take an adequate history (91.9%), barriers for prescribing appropriate treatment (90.6%); and patients' reluctance to be referred to a psychiatrist (89.1%). Most GPs (78.4%) agreed that recognizing depression was their responsibility, 71.7% were confident in diagnosing depression, but less than one-third (29.6%) considered that they should treat it.
Conclusions: Improvements to the organization of mental healthcare in all five countries should consider better training for GPs in depression diagnosis and treatment; the availability of mental healthcare specialists at primary care level, with ensured equal and easy access for all patients; and the removal of potential legal barriers for diagnosis and treatment of depression.
(© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

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001 International WHO_ World Health Organization; D43 TW009122 United States TW FIC NIH HHS; ID43TW009122-01 International National Institute of Health Fogarty International Center

Date Created: 20181003 Date Completed: 20200305 Latest Revision: 20220129

20240628

PMC6445789

10.1111/eip.12747

30277313