title: Factors affecting nurses' intent to assess for depression in heart failure patients.
abstract: The association between depression and cardiovascular disease has been well established and has been shown to decrease patients' quality of life and increase the risk of mortality, frequency and duration of hospitalization, and health care costs. The inpatient setting provides a potentially valuable opportunity to assess and treat depression among patients with acute cardiac illness, allowing for daily monitoring of treatment side effects. Although systematic depression screening appears to be feasible, efficient, and well accepted on inpatient cardiac units, the current lack of consistent inpatient assessment for depression in heart failure patients suggests the presence of barriers influencing the effective diagnosis and treatment of depression among inpatients with heart failure. The theory of planned behavior describes the cognitive mechanism by which behavioral intent is formed, giving some insight into how nurses' attitudes and beliefs affect their performance of routine depression screening. In addition, application of this cognitive theory suggests that nurses may be influenced to adopt more positive attitudes and beliefs about depression through educational intervention, leading to greater likelihood of routine assessment for depression, ultimately leading to more timely diagnosis and treatment and improved patient outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Patricia Lea, DNP, MSEd, RN, CCRN, received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Houston Baptist University in Houston, Texas, a Master's in Education from Baylor University, Waco, Texas, and a Doctorate of Nursing Practice in Executive Leadership from American Sentinel University in Aurora, Colorado. During her nursing career, Dr Lea has held the positions of director of a heart failure clinic, clinical coordinator of cardiology in Waco, Texas, and senior clinical research nurse at the Stem Cell Center at Texas Heart Institute in Houston, Texas. Dr Lea's clinical focus is critical care nursing. She is currently an assistant professor in the Baccalaureate Program at the School of Nursing, University of Texas Medical Branch, at Galveston, Texas. Her research interests are: 1) the impact of evidence based practice on nursing care, which she teaches in her course, and 2) early detection and treatment of depression in heart failure patients.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lea
mesh_terms: D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000451:nursing* / Q000523:psychology; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D008403:Mass Screening; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D011788:Quality of Life