Brown et al (86)

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

To see whether crisis support protects against the onset of depression, even if there is low self-esteem and a lack of general support, to see if a lack of support and low-self esteem are vulnerability factors for depression and to see if support from a husband, partner or close relationship reduces the risk of depression.

Question 2

Prospective design

Answer 2

prospective design – longitudinal study that started when the participants were not affected by the condition of interest, in this case depression, allowing risk factors to be studied.

Question 3

Participants

Answer 3

Women whose husbands worked in manual occupations, had at least one child aged 18 or under living at home, and were themselves aged between 18 and 50 participated. Total of 435 women.

Question 4

Initial response used in first stage

Answer 4

91% of initial response was used in first stage of study.

Question 5

First Contact

Answer 5

At first contact measures of self-esteem and personal ties measured, and psychiatric history collected

Question 6

A year on

Answer 6

A year later data about any onset of psychiatric disorder in the 12 moths was measures and measures of life event stress and social support also taken.

Question 7

Women experienced major life event and were depressed

Answer 7

Of the women who had developed depression in those 12 months, 29 of the 32 had experienced some major life event 6 moths prior to developing depression.

Question 8

% of women without depression experiencing an event

Answer 8

Only 23% of the women without depression who had experienced such an event

Question 9

Life Event + negative evaluation of self

Answer 9

Of those who had a life event, 33% of those who developed depression had negative evaluation of the self and 13% did not

Question 10

Thoughts on the core crisis support

Answer 10

The majority of women with core crisis support saw it as helpful, and there was no difference in their perception of support being helpful whether they had developed depression or not

Question 11

No support

Answer 11

Of those who had no support either at first contact or at crisis, 44% developed depression.

Question 12

Conclusion

Answer 12

In general, those who had a husband or other close tie had a lower chance of the onset of depression. However, those women who were married and confided in their husbands but were let down by a lack of such support at crises had an increased risk of developing depression.

Question 13

Conclusion - low self esteem

Answer 13

Low self-esteem is implicated in the onset of depression after a provoking agent and a provoking agent seemed to be necessary for the development of depression in most cases.

Question 14

In depth, detailed data

Answer 14

Both the first contact and follow up interviews gave the in depth and detailed data that were required for the analysis of such complex inter-related concepts.

Question 15

Reliability

Answer 15

There was a strong inter rater reliability, which strengthens the findings.

Question 16

Validity

Answer 16

The data was likely to be valid as it was gathered carefully by trained and experienced interviewers using semi-structured interviews

Question 17

Sampling

Answer 17

Sampling was carefully carried out by contracting all eligible women and then carrying out random sampling, which meant that all women had equal chances of being chosen, removing a source of bias

Question 18

Hard to separate some concepts which were scored as numbers.

Answer 18

It was hard to separate out the concepts that were scored as numbers and then percentages because qualitative data were in some cases reduced to quantitative data e.g. the presence or lack of support from a husband or partner at crisis point seemed easy to access, but then it was shown that such lack of support meant, at least in some cases, that the husband was part of the situation, rather then the bystander.

Question 19

Generalisability

Answer 19

This was a study of working-class women with at least one child still at home – the sample was quite precise, and therefore generalizing the findings to all women might not be possible.