Improving Patient-Centered Care: Personal Models of Depression Among Older Male Veterans

SuMMaRy The results of this QI project sug-gest that older veterans may hold specific beliefs about the causes and treatment of depression, including low concern about depressive symp-toms, the belief that interpersonal stressors will resolve naturally, and that individual coping efforts are sufficient to manage depression symptoms. Patient-centered educa-tion that incorporates these beliefs, perhaps through the use of direct quotations or testimonials from pa-tients, may serve to increase the likelihood that older veterans dis-cuss their symptoms with HCPs and consider mental health treatment. Future directions include devel-opment and implementation of a patient-centered educational inter-vention about late-life depression. This type of intervention may in-crease rates of mental health treat-ment initiation among older male veterans by presenting educational information about late-life depres-sion that is consistent with patient beliefs. l Acknowledgements Dr. Woodhead’s work on this project was supported by funding from the VA GRECC Special Fellowship Program in Advanced Geriatrics.