The lived experience of depression in elderly African American women.

Objective: This article focuses on the lived experience of depression in 20 elderly African American women.

Methods: Data on depression emerged from research that qualitatively explored experiences of depression, sadness, and suffering in 120 community-dwelling persons aged 80 and older, stratified by gender, ethnicity, and self-reported health.

Result: We placed women's narratives under three general themes: Depression was (a) linked with diminishment of personal strength, (b) related to sadness and suffering, and (c) preventable or resolvable through personal responsibility.

Cultural sensitivity and supportive expressive psychotherapy: an integrative approach to treatment.

Cultural sensitivity is a concept that has become increasingly important in psychotherapy research and practice. In response to the growing ethnic minority population and the increased demand for psychological services among minority clients, many therapists and researchers have attempted to identify competencies and guidelines for providing culturally sensitive approaches to treatment. However, many cultural sensitivity concepts are theoretical and have rarely been integrated into an established psychotherapeutic framework.

Family involvement in the care of healthy medical outpatients.

Background: Although the involvement of patients' family members in office visits has been examined extensively, less is known about the involvement of family members in supporting patients' medical care outside of office visits.

Objective: This study examines two questions: What types of family involvement do family members have in the medical care of relatively healthy older outpatients, and does self-rated health moderate patients' reactions to this family involvement?

Methods: Patients from a large sample of medical practice outpatients (N = 1572) were assessed to determine perceived emotional support, involvement of family members in their medical care, as well as the presence of depressive symptoms.

Results: Approximately 50% of patients had some family involvement in their medical care (e.

Similarities and differences in depression among black and white nursing home residents.

The authors examined racial similarities and differences in depressive symptomatology, diagnosis, and the predictors of depression in four independent nursing homes, conducting analyses across all sites and separately for the nursing home with the greatest racial balance (NH4). All-site data indicated that white residents showed more depression than black residents. There were no racial differences in the depression diagnosis derived from a structured interview of DSM-III-R.