Depression is the preeminent cause of disability internationally. Support-based depression screening is a nationally recommended means of detecting and treating patients with this disabling illness. The purpose of the doctor of nursing practice (DNP) practice change project was to implement an outpatient neurology depression screening protocol so that depressed patients were identified and received intervention. The project answered whether implementation of an 8- to 12-week systematic depression screening protocol in a neurology practice increased the incidence of accurate depression identification and treatment in this patient population as compared to the 3-month prior baseline. The DNP depression screening project was based on the salutogenic theoretical framework to emphasize the generation of health (Becker, Glasscoff, Felts, & Kent, 2015). This generation of health was accomplished through the preventative intervention of depression screening. The practice change project was based on an evidence-based practice design using quantitative data collection and measurements. In the DNP practice change project, N = 66 patients participated in systematic, support-based depression screening and received treatment recommendations compared to a baseline of 0 systematic depression screening, identification, and treatment. Of the N = 66, 56.1% (n = 37) of the patients screened positive for depression and 39.4% (n = 26) received treatment if indicated. Future studies were needed to determine the generalizability of the practice change protocol methods and results.
| Date of Award | Jan 1 2020 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Lori Lupe (Supervisor) |
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