The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #51014

Briggett C Ford, ACSW, MPH, PhD, School of Social Work, University of Michigan, 1080 S. University, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106, (734)-763-6282, bcford@umich.edu

A major concern of public health social work has been to understand the way in which individuals use language to describe their mental health status. Past research has focused on identifying and developing a "common language" of mental health to better facilitate the recognition and treatment of mental disorders. Nowhere have the efforts been more evident than in the case of depression. This paper reports the results of 197 cognitive interviews using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) questions assessing depression. During these interviews respondents were asked to respond to the following probe questions: What does the phrase "sad, blue, or depressed" mean to you? and Are there other words or phrases that you would use to describe feeling "sad, blue or depressed"? Content analysis of the responses indicates that respondents used language that is very similar to DSM-IV criteria used to identify major depression. No significant gender or race differences were yielded from the probe on the meaning of "sad, blue, or depressed". Significant race and gender differences were found in responses to the use of other language for the phrase "sad, blue or depressed" probe. These findings suggest the presence of a common language of depression in regards to the conceptual meaning of depression. After attending the session, participants should be able to: a) describe the meaning of the phrase "sad, blue or depressed", b) increase awareness of language that is used to describe the symptoms of depression and c) develop different approaches to assess depression across race and gender.

Learning Objectives: