Perceived barriers on primary physicians' screening practice for depression.

• Main Author: Tan, Gladys.
• Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: DRNTU::Social sciences
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/48789
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

With the increasing prevalence of depression worldwide, physicians’ screening practice in primary care setting is necessary to identify the unrecognized health risks factors in order to provide timely interventions. As primary care setting is the first contact point between physicians and patients, it is important that physicians screen their patients and not let depression goes undetected. The present study aims to determine the barriers that are likely to prevent physicians from screening their patients. Based on social cognitive theory, screening behavior can be influenced by the interaction among physicians, physicians’ screening behavior and environmental factors such as patient and organizational-related barriers. Contradictory findings are found for the effect of age and gender on screening practice. Hence, the different barriers are assessed to find out if they significantly predict physicians’ screening practice for depression, above and beyond physicians’ age and gender. Taking a step further, effects of barriers on screening practice are examined between private and public practice setting. Multiple logistic regressions were used to perform secondary analysis with data obtained from Chinese American Health Services Survey. Age was found to be positively related to physicians’ screening practice across setting. Physicians’ perceived unimportance of patient counseling was negatively related to screening practice across setting and in private setting. Limitations and implications of this study are discussed.