Knowledge and skills of professional carers working with older people with depression.
OBJECTIVE
The current study was designed to evaluate the knowledge, skills and self-efficacy of care providers from the perspective of professionals working in the aged-care industry.


METHODS
Participants were 21 professional carers, 10 General Practitioners and 7 aged-care managers. Focus groups, which involved the completion of a semi-structured interview related to knowledge, recognition, confidence, referral procedures and use of screening tools for the detection of depression, were conducted.


RESULTS
The results showed that all groups of respondents recognised significant gap in the knowledge and awareness of depression among professional care staff working with older people in both the community and residential care-settings. Skills in the detection and monitoring of depression and the self-efficacy of these care staff were also seen to be a problem.


CONCLUSIONS
The implications of these findings in terms of training programmes for professional carers working in the aged health care sector are discussed.
McCabe
Marita P
MP
School of Psychology, Deakin University, Victoria, Australia. marita.mccabe@deakin.edu.au
Davison
Tanya
T
Mellor
David
D
George
Kuruvilla
K
D000368:Aged; D017028:Caregivers; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D009735:Nursing Homes; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D013663:Teaching / Q000592:standards*