The clinical and functional status of depressive patiens with 3-month psychiatric care

Abstract

To obtain data about the clinical and functional status of the depressive patients with 3 months of supposedly acceptable psychiatric care and find out if there is any correlation between improvement of clinical and functioning status. The study would also look for the predictive factors to clinical response of the depressive patients with 3 months of supposedly acceptable psychiatric care. A prospective descriptive study were conducted and three instruments for the measurement were developed to assess 96 depressive patients with follow up for 3 months. Results: The response rate of depressive patients with 3-month psychiatric care is 67.7% (95% C.I. = 58.18-77.23). There is prominent functional disability with depressive patients and the correlation between improvement of clinical status, and functioning status has the same direction but the correlation is very low (Pearson correlation = 0.29). The predictive factors to clinical response of the depressive patients are income factor, stress from family problems and bereavement with the Hosmer and Lemeshow Goodness-of-fit = 0.77. The patients show good satisfaction with the psychiatric care. Conclusion: It is recommended that important health care resources should be preferentially allocated to a condition like depressive disorder. Depressive disorder is associated with limitations in psychological and role functioning of people and is treatable with a very good response rate and good patients' satisfaction in such a short period (3 months of psychiatric care).