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Psychology Colloquia

13 February 2007

Title

"Depression and Rural Women with Physical Disabilities"
 

Speaker

Rosemary B. Hughes, Ph.D., is Senior Research Scientist at the Rural Institute on Disabilities and Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of Montana. Dr. Hughes, who joined the University this past September, is the former Director of the Center for Research on Women with Disabilities and Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

Dr. Hughes’ primary research interests focus on the psychological and social health of people with disabilities. At the Rural Institute, she is beginning the fourth year of collaboration with researchers from Oregon Health Sciences University and Portland State University on a five year research project addressing the identification and reporting of violence by people with disabilities. She has served as principal investigator on research projects related to depression, stress, self-esteem, and health promotion for women aging with disability. Dr. Hughes recently completed a three year study on depression self-management for rural women with physical disabilities.
 

Time & Venue

4:10pm, SS 356
 

Abstract

Although recent research has begun to address depression and women with disabilities, little attention has been given to depression among rural women with disabilities. High rates of depression and lack of access to mental health services have been well documented in rural settings, however, little is known about how these problems affect the disproportionately large population of rural women with disabilities. This presentation will include a discussion of the first known investigation of depression among rural women with physical disabilities. Following brief background information on depression in the context of disability, Dr. Hughes will discuss the findings of a baseline data analysis that sought to describe demographic and disability-related characteristics of a sample of 134 rural women with physical disabilities who had volunteered to participate in a randomized clinical intervention study on depression self-management.  The analysis also sought to examine the patterns of treatment for depression and to investigate correlates of depression severity and recent depression treatment. The preliminary findings indicate that the majority of participants reported moderate to severe depression (n = 101; 75.4%) with nearly 20% reporting thoughts of suicide. At risk of severe depression were women who were younger, had greater problems with pain, had more limited mobility, and were less satisfied with their social network. Despite the high levels of depressive symptomatology, more than one third of the women in the sample had not received recent treatment for depression.

In the second part of her presentation, Dr. Hughes will describe the eight-session depression self-management intervention, identify the outcome measures, and report the results of the randomized clinical study. The findings suggest that a brief, peer-led depression self-management program may result in a reduction of depressive symptomatology. This study serves as one model for delivering depression treatment to a rural population with significant needs yet extremely limited access to mental health services.

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last revised 06 February 2007

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