Factors associated with unwillingness to seek professional help for depression: a web-based survey.

OBJECTIVE: Depression is a prevalent disorder that has a substantial impact on not only individuals but also society as a whole. Despite many effective depression interventions, delay in initial treatment contact is problematic. The Internet is a possible tool for low-cost dissemination of appropriate information and awareness raising about depressive disorders among the general public. This study aimed to identify factors associated with unwillingness to seek professional help for depression in Internet users. RESULTS: This web-based cross-sectional study surveyed 595 participants who scored over the cutoff point for depression on a self-rated mental-health questionnaire for depression, had never been assessed or treated by a mental health professional, and were experiencing depressive symptoms for at least 6 months. Among the 595 participants, 329 (55.3%) reported they were unwilling to seek professional help for depression. Regression analysis indicated that unwillingness to seek professional help for depression was associated with male sex and financial issues as a depression trigger, and that willingness to seek professional help was associated with problems with interpersonal relationships. The Internet warrants further complementary investigation to elucidate factors associated with unwillingness to seek professional help for depression.

Factors Affecting Intention to Undergo Dementia Screening.

BACKGROUND: In the present study, we focused on the main perception-related factors that affect people's intention to undergo dementia screening. METHODS: The 344 subjects that answered all the survey questions were included in the analysis. Data on the following variables were collected: Basic attributes such as age, sex, years of education, and number of people in the household; degree of intention to undergo dementia screening; degree of awareness of the seriousness of the consequences of dementia; degree of awareness that the person may someday develop dementia; degree of awareness of their ability to prevent dementia; availability of social support; degree of knowledge of lifestyle habits that can prevent dementia; role in the community and purpose in life. RESULTS: There were 110 people in the strong intention group and 234 people in the weak intention group. On univariate analysis, awareness of seriousness, awareness of morbidity, preventability, and knowledge of preventative lifestyle were statistically significant at a significance level of 5%, and these variables tended to be higher in the strong intention group as compared to that in the weak intention group. These were entered in the logistic regression analysis as the explanatory variables, and intention to undergo screening was entered as the objective variable. The results indicated that awareness of seriousness and knowledge of preventative lifestyle had significant influence on intention to undergo screening. CONCLUSION: The above results suggested that to increase the intention to undergo dementia screening, psychoeducation that encourages people to understand the serious consequences of dementia, efforts to spread awareness of the risk factors for dementia, and promotion of lifestyle factors that are preventative may be effective.

The Takeda three colors combination test: a screening test for detection of very mild Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia and is prevalent worldwide. It is expected that AD, for which aging is a risk factor, will increase in the future. Because early detection of AD has become increasingly important, promoting demand for screening tests with adequate sensitivity. In this study, we examined the usefulness of the Takeda Three Colors Combination Test (TTCC) for screening of the very mild AD and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). METHODS: 154 senior persons participated in the research: 55 with very mild AD, 45 with aMCI, and 54 control group. The TTCC, which was a colored cards configuration memory task, was examined for sensitivity and specificity. RESULTS: The sensitivity of the TTCC was 76% and 47% for the very mild AD and aMCI groups, and the specificity was 83%. Conducting TTCC (including instruction and evaluation) was accomplished within 2 minutes for all subjects. CONCLUSION: The TTCC is useful screening test for early detection of AD. Furthermore, administration time is short and requires no special training or skills. Thus, we believe the TTCC shows great potential for use as an AD screening test by a general practitioner in communities worldwide.

Predictors of colonoscopy use one year after colonoscopy: prospective study of surveillance behavior for colorectal cancer.

We hypothesized that perceived risk of colorectal cancer (CRC) and CRC worry would be the main predictors of surveillance behavior in patients undergoing colonoscopy. We therefore assessed factors predicting colonoscopy use for re-examination one year after colonoscopy. Patients who had undergone colonoscopy and were scheduled for re-examination one year later were recruited. Patients were administered questionnaires after baseline colonoscopy assessing demographic factors, perceived risk, CRC worry, cancer preventability, knowledge of CRC and results of colonoscopy. We confirmed whether participants underwent colonoscopy re-examinations one year later (follow-up). Finally, 56 participants completed the research and were used in the final analysis (response rate = 65.1%). We found that 37.5% of the participants who underwent baseline colonoscopy underwent follow-up colonoscopy one year later. Follow-up colonoscopy was not significantly associated with any psychological variables, but was significantly associated with educational status (postsecondary) (odds ratio [OR] = 7.10, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.83-27.56) and the results of baseline colonoscopy in patients who did not undergo polypectomy but had remaining polyps (OR = 4.26, 95% CI = 1.02-17.84). Additionally, significant differences in cancer threat-related variables were observed among groups of patients who, during baseline colonoscopy, underwent polypectomy but had no remaining polyps, had polyps removed with some polyps remaining, or did not undergo polypectomy but had remaining polyps (p < .05), with the latter group having a significant relationship with repeat colonoscopy. Cancer threat-related variables were not predictive of repeat colonoscopy after one year. In contrast, patient educational status and the colonoscopy results were predictors. We also found a non-linear relationship between high CRC threat and inhibition of the screening behavior in that the CRC threat functions as motivation for the surveillance behavior of colonoscopy.