Satisfaction with general practitioner treatment of depression among residents of aged care facilities

This article investigates consumer perspectives on the treatment for depression among older people in residential facilities.

Aged care residents who were aware of being treated for depression in the past 6 months (24 women and 7 men, mean age = 83 years) participated in an interview that assessed their perspective on treatments.

Although more than half of the participants in the sample reported overall satisfaction with the medical treatments received for depression, qualitative data provided indications of unsatisfactory service delivery, including perceptions of low treatment efficacy, short consultation times, the failure to assess affective symptomatology, and negative responses to residents' disclosure of symptoms.

The findings are discussed in relation to previous research on consumer satisfaction with health services and issues that may be pertinent to the elderly depressed. Training for general practitioners providing treatment in aged care is indicated.