Befriending as an intervention for chronic depression among women in an inner city

Harris, Tirril; Brown, George W.; Robinson, R.

doi:10.1192/bjp.174.3.219

Cited by 132 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…No quantitative research trials were found for the use of befriending volunteers to support carers. The closest trial was Harris and colleagues, 35 evaluation of a volunteer befriending intervention for women with chronic depression in inner London. With additional searching using a broader range of search terms, two randomised controlled trials (RCTs) were identified which evaluate 'friendly visiting' for isolated elders.…”

Section: Psychosocial Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does befriending by trained lay workers improve psychological well-being and quality of life for carers of people with dementia, and at what cost? A randomised controlled trial

Charlesworth¹,

Shepstone²,

Wilson³

et al. 2008

Health Technol Assess

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Section: Psychosocial Interventionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does befriending by trained lay workers improve psychological well-being and quality of life for carers of people with dementia, and at what cost? A randomised controlled trial

Charlesworth¹,

Shepstone²,

Wilson³

et al. 2008

Health Technol Assess

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“…Interest in social support rests not only upon its potential importance as a cause of ill health but in particular upon the possible public health benefit of developing interventions to modify risk and thus to prevent mental disorders in the general population (Mrazek & Haggerty, 1994 ;Harris et al 1999). Valuable information about the role of social support in the inception of psychiatric disorder comes from communitybased prospective studies (Brown et al 1986).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social support networks and type of neurotic symptom among adults in British households

et al. 2003

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Background. Current knowledge about associations between psychosocial factors and nonpsychotic symptoms provide little information about their relationship to specific types of neurotic symptoms such as symptoms of fatigue, worry, phobic anxiety and obsessional symptoms.Method. The British National Survey of Psychiatric Morbidity was based on a cross-sectional random sample of 10 108 householders. Neurotic symptoms were established by lay interviewers using the revised fully structured Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R). Subjects were asked about perceived social support, the size of their close primary social network and sociodemographic attributes. To assess possible associations between specific types of neurotic symptoms and psychosocial risk factors multivariate Huber logistic models (a modified form of repeated measures design modelling) was used taking account of correlation between symptom types and sampling design including clustering.Results. After controlling for sociodemographic factors the risk of having a high total CIS-R score (o12) was approximately doubled for both types of poor social functioning. Specific types of neurotic symptoms were associated both with a small primary group and with inadequate perceived social support. Depression, depressive ideas and panic symptoms had a higher prevalence in multivariate models. Poverty was associated with low support.Conclusions. Associations with deficiencies in social support and self-reported neurotic symptoms are better explained by symptom type and in particular by depression than by the total number of symptoms. If confirmed by longitudinal study findings this knowledge could be used to inform the development of interventions to improve social support in order to reduce specific neurotic symptom types.

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“…1 (Brown et al, 1995). Hence, the subject tends to associate individual redundancy with feelings of shame and the meaning of humiliation, failure and rejection, whereas mass redundancy owing to closure of the whole firm carries no individual shame (Harris & Brown, 1996). Life events or difficulties involving the meaning of humiliation tend to be divided into other people's delinquency that devalue the subject (e.g.…”

Section: Brown's Model Of Social Adversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Paykel et al, 1996) and of out-patients with melancholic or psychotic subtypes of depressive episode (Harris & Brown, 1996;Brugha et al, 1997) have generally failed to demonstrate that outcome is associated with the threat from current life events or chronic life difficulties, the creation of fresh-start events or improved social support. Post et al (1986) noted that life events often precipitate early episodes of depression, but as the number of episodes increases "the illness appears to evolve its own rhythmicity and spontaneity, independent of life events".…”

Section: Prospective Naturalistic Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Finally, life events and life difficulties may play an even greater role in the onset, maintenance, recovery from and adverse consequences of depressive disorder in patients aged over 65 (Harris & Brown, 1996) and in non-Western settings where there is greater exposure to social adversity (Broadhead & Abas, 1998).…”

Section: Psychiatric Comorbidity and Special Groupsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Contextual evaluation of social adversity in the management of depressive disorder

Morriss¹,

Morriss²

2000

Adv. psychiatr. treat

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Contextual rating of social adversity has its origins in the work of George Brown and colleagues (Brown & Harris, 1978). This review evaluates its strengths and weaknesses in rating the effects of social adversity on depressive disorder. We write from the perspective of its usefulness for clinical and training purposes both to the consultant psychiatrist and to the community mental health team working in general adult psychiatry. What is contextual rating of social adversity?Social adversity and social factors that mitigate it can be validly measured with or without considering their likely interpretation (context) by the individual. Contextual rating of social adversity is often clinically meaningful for both the health professional and the patient, enabling them to understand how, when and why social adversity may be connected with the patient's depressive disorder. In research, associations between social adversity and depression are also stronger using the contextual rating method than other methods (Kessler, 1997). The main alternative approach is to consider that each life event has a similar adverse effect on each individual. In this method, life events are sometimes ranked in terms of the likelihood of causing an adverse emotional effect in an individual. The nature of contextual rating is best illustrated by an example. A life event such as unemployment may be more of a blow to a 40-year-old man who is already in debt, has a large family and has worked all his life in one specialised field than to another 40-year-old man without such debt or commitments and who has a wide range of experience and skills. The former is likely to experience unemployment as a severe threat to his well-being, whereas the latter may even consider it as a fresh opportunity. A problem with contextual rating is that great care has to be taken to avoid making inaccurate assumptions about mitigating circumstances and causality. For example, it is possible that the reason our 40-yearold man is depressed, unemployed and in debt is because he is a heavy consumer of alcohol, which independently contributes to his depression, unemployment (e.g. through bad time-keeping) and indebtedness. Figure 1 illustrates the psychosocial formulation of a patient with a non-psychotic depressive episode. The model uses traditional categories of predisposing or vulnerability factors (Box 1), precipitating factors (Box 2) and maintaining factors (Box 3) likely to cause chronicity for 12 months or more. Vulnerability factors may increase the likelihood of both precipitating interpersonal life events and difficulties, and maintaining factors (Brown & Moran, 1994). Unlike traditional formulations, there is a Brown's model of social adversity

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Befriending as an intervention for chronic depression among women in an inner city

Abstract: The results are not unpromising. Additional trials with less restricted intake conditions, and in more naturalistic general practice settings, might confirm volunteer befriending as a useful adjunct to current treatments.

Cited by 132 publications

References 32 publications

Does befriending by trained lay workers improve psychological well-being and quality of life for carers of people with dementia, and at what cost? A randomised controlled trial

Does befriending by trained lay workers improve psychological well-being and quality of life for carers of people with dementia, and at what cost? A randomised controlled trial

Social support networks and type of neurotic symptom among adults in British households

Contextual evaluation of social adversity in the management of depressive disorder

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