Investigation of knowledge and attitude on depression in nurses in psychiatric and general hospitals of partial regions nationwide

Abstract

Objective To understand the current situation of knowledge and attitude on depression in nurses in psychiatric and general hospitals of partial regions nationwide so as to provide targeted training on relevant knowledge for nurses. Methods A totals of 5 497 nurses (2 902 in psychiatric hospitals, 2 595 in general hospitals) from 8 provinces were investigated with the adapted questionnaire of knowledge and attitude on depression. Results The scores of knowledge and attitude of nurses in psychiatric hospitals were (13.55±3.58) and (95.34±12.69) , which were higher than those [ (10.81±2.97) , (89.02±15.31) ] of nurses in general hospitals with significant differences (t=30.636, 16.824; P<0.01) . The single factor analysis showed that there were statistically significant differences in the score of knowledge on depression of nurses betwen different departments, ages, marriages, educational background and working years (t=30.952, 23.217, 23.266, 40.065, 23.266, 40.065; P<0.05) . Besides, there were statistically significant differences in the score of attitude on depression of nurses between different departments, ages, marriages, positional titles, educational background and working life (t=16.656, 19.127, 17.228, 17.894, 10.713, 17.894; P<0.05) . The regression analysis revealed that the influencial factors on knowledge were the property of department, educational background, positional titles and working years; the influencing factors for attitude were the property of department, educational background. Conclusions Clinical nurses are with low awareness of knowledge on depression along with negative attitudes with patients. Managers should draw up a training plan based on the property of department, educational background, positional titles, working years and so on for the nurses to strengthen the training on knowledge of disease and humanities, thus improving their service ability for patients with depression. Key words: Depressive disorder; Nurses; Knowledge; Attitude; Psychiatry; General hospital