Nursing interventions in rehabilitation of depression in adults: A literature Review.

Abstract

This thesis examines nursing interventions that are used in adult depression rehabilitation. It assesses their application in the community, psychiatric units, and primary care settings aiming to contribute insights into their efficacy and impact on mental health. A literature review was conducted using peer-reviewed articles from academic journals in nursing. Databases such as PubMed, Science Direct (Elsevier), Sage Premier, EBSCOhost, and ProQuest Central were accessed through Laurea Finna and Libguides internet search sites. The researcher carefully selected twelve articles including randomized clinical trials, randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental studies, and mixed methods studies, and used the thematic analysis method to conduct the review.

The findings revealed that nurse-led, behavioural, complementary, pharmacological, and multicomponent interventions are some of the widely used interventions in depression rehabilitation in adults. It was also revealed that antidepressants are usually the basic depression treatment for adults. Nurses undertake many rehabilitation interventions including residential visits, follow-up telephone calls, and counselling. Personalized care is recommended for adult depression patients because each patient goes through different experiences. Modern treatment strategies include combining different interventions to achieve rehabilitation goals.

Some authors discourage interventions that do not include a pharmacological component. There are also recommendations by some authors concerning proper training of nurses to become skillful in administering cognitive-behavioral therapy because there seems to be a lack of resource persons for CBT. Future empirical studies can investigate how different geographical and socioeconomic contexts affect the effectiveness and efficiency of these interventions.