Identifying depression in a family member: the carers' experience.

Background: Current research activity has not focused adequately upon the experience of caring for a person with depression. This study aimed to explore the carer's experience of living with a person with clinical depression. Specific focus was given to the detection and recognition of the disorder.

How much more can we lose?": carer and family perspectives on living with a person with depression.

Objective: To explore the experiences of carers and families of people with depression.

Design And Setting: Structured focus groups conducted in six Australian capital cities between February 2002 and July 2002. Thematic analyses were conducted using the QSR NUD*IST software package for qualitative data.

Experience with treatment services for people with bipolar disorder.

Objective: To describe the experiences of people with bipolar disorder with primary care and specialist mental health services.

Design And Setting: Focus groups and indepth interviews were conducted in seven Australian capital cities between July 2002 and April 2003. Thematic analyses were conducted using the QSR NUD*IST software package for qualitative data.

Exploring the perspectives of people whose lives have been affected by depression.

Objectives: To describe the experiences of people whose lives have been affected by depression.

Design, Setting And Participants: Thematic review of data collected from 21 community meetings (1529 people, providing 911 evaluation forms) and nine focus groups (69 individuals) held nationally, and written feedback and website-based interactions with beyondblue: the national depression initiative between April and December 2001.

Main Outcome Measures: Barriers to social participation experienced by people whose lives have been affected by depression, and their interactions with the healthcare system.