Community mental health interventions for people with major depressive disorder: A scoping review

Perceptions of community mental health services among culturally diverse adult Singaporeans with major depressive disorder: A descriptive qualitative study

Persons with major depressive disorder (PMDDs) often experience pernicious ramifications on the biopsychosocial aspects of their health. While community mental health services (CMHSs) in Singapore are increasingly leveraged to meet the escalating demand for mental healthcare, shortcomings such as a substantial treatment gap and the lack of holistic, culturally sensitive care have been highlighted. Of note, the perspectives of the service users, which have hardly been studied in the literature, are crucial to our understanding of their needs to continuously improve CMHSs. Accordingly, this qualitative descriptive study explored the perceptions and experiences of community-dwelling adults with major depressive disorder in their use of CMHSs in Singapore. Seventeen adults with major depressive disorder purposefully sampled from a CMHS provider were interviewed through a semi-structured guide between October and November 2021. Data analysis via Braun and Clarke's six-step thematic framework yielded five themes corresponding to three different phases: pre-CMHS encounter ((i) procrastination to seek help and (ii) factors influencing CMHS utilization); intra-CMHS encounter ((iii) incongruous perceptions of the impacts on biopsychosocial health and (iv) differing perceptions and experiences of culturally sensitive care); and post-CMHS encounter ((v) enhancing CMHSs for PMDDs based on end-users' experiences). Our findings underscore the need to improve the delivery of personalized mental healthcare services, use of settings- and culturally-specific anti-stigma strategies, and nationwide mental health literacy in symptom recognition and awareness of help-seeking resources.

Research on major depression in China: A perspective from bibliometric analysis

BACKGROUND

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a major psychiatric disorder with increasing research intensity. However, papers written in languages other than English are less accessible to international readers. This study examined the bibliometric features of English and Chinese language research papers about major depressive disorder in China.

METHODS

The Web of Science (WoS) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases were searched for eligible studies. Authorship collaboration networks and keyword co-occurrences were estimated and visualized.

RESULTS

There were 2,220 and 63,306 publications on MDD in the WoS and CNKI between 1990 and 2021, respectively. The number of papers increased annually during the period. For papers written in English, the Journal of Affective Disorders (201; 9.05 %) had the highest activity and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University had the most publications (232; 10.45 %). For papers in Chinese, the highest activity was with the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry (1,025; 1.62 %) and the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (1,098; 1.73 %). Xiang YT (68; 3.06 %) and Yuan YG (179; 0.28 %) were the most productive authors in the English and Chinese languages, respectively. Keyword analysis showed that English and Chinese publications differed in emphasis (English: related psychiatric conditions, study design, clinical aspects, and assessment instruments; Chinese: somatic comorbidities, antidepressants, related psychiatric conditions, treatment of depression, and electrophysiological).

CONCLUSIONS

The number of scientific papers on MDD increased yearly, and Chinese authors writing in English have an increasing influence. Except for a few authors, productivity and influence were dominated by national universities and specialized medical universities.