Centre for Policy on Ageing



Using postal questionnaires to identify carer depression prior to initial patient contact
Author(s)	Candida R Graham, Sube Banerjee, Randeep S Gill
Journal title	Psychiatric Bulletin, vol 33, no 5, May 2009
Pages	pp 169-171
Source	http://pb.rcpsych.org
Keywords	Informal care ; Depression ; Evaluation ; Screening ; Referrals ; Questionnaires ; Methodology ; London.
Annotation	The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and a questionnaire collecting information on the carer's circumstances were sent to carers of consecutive patients routinely referred to a community mental health team for older adults in south London. The aim was to assess whether postal questionnaires, used as a local initiative, were useful in identifying carer depression allowing early support for community-dwelling carers of older adults with mental health needs. Rates of carer depression between postal questionnaire responders and non-responders were compared. The response rate to the postal questionnaires (33%) was similar to that observed in other postal studies; 42% of responders had depression compared with only 4.5% of non-responders. Pre-contact postal questionnaires may present a simple method of enhancing early detection of carer depression for minimal economic outlay. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-090507206 A
Classmark	P6: ENR: 4C: 3V: L5R: 3DA: 3D: 82L
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