TY - JOUR
T1 - A qualitative study of Mexican American adolescents and depression
AU - Fornos, Laura B.
AU - Seguin Mika, Virginia
AU - Bayles, Bryan
AU - Serrano, Alberto C.
AU - Jimenez, Roberto L.
AU - Villarreal, Roberto
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2018 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2005/5
Y1 - 2005/5
N2 - Depressive disorders are present in a high percentage of Mexican American adolescents. Among the US Mexican American population, suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among 10- to 19-year-olds. Little research, however, has focused on Mexican American adolescents' knowledge and views about depression and seeking help for depression. Results from a qualitative study on Mexican American adolescents' attitudes about depression are investigated in this paper. Sixty-five high school and middle school students in a largely Mexican American, urban school district in San Antonio, Tex, participated in 9 semistructured, focus group interviews where participants were asked questions to elicit their understanding of depression, treatment for depression, and words used to describe it. Coding of salient words and themes from transcribed interviews were entered into Atlas.ti for qualitative analysis. Three themes emerged: (1) adolescents' definitions of depression, (2) beliefs about adolescent depression, and (3) treatment for adolescent depression. While depressive symptoms among Mexican American adolescents are common and recognized, resource and treatment knowledge is scarce. An understanding of the beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge of these adolescents can provide crucial information about the content and structure of a universal, school-based, peer-facilitated depression awareness program.
AB - Depressive disorders are present in a high percentage of Mexican American adolescents. Among the US Mexican American population, suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among 10- to 19-year-olds. Little research, however, has focused on Mexican American adolescents' knowledge and views about depression and seeking help for depression. Results from a qualitative study on Mexican American adolescents' attitudes about depression are investigated in this paper. Sixty-five high school and middle school students in a largely Mexican American, urban school district in San Antonio, Tex, participated in 9 semistructured, focus group interviews where participants were asked questions to elicit their understanding of depression, treatment for depression, and words used to describe it. Coding of salient words and themes from transcribed interviews were entered into Atlas.ti for qualitative analysis. Three themes emerged: (1) adolescents' definitions of depression, (2) beliefs about adolescent depression, and (3) treatment for adolescent depression. While depressive symptoms among Mexican American adolescents are common and recognized, resource and treatment knowledge is scarce. An understanding of the beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge of these adolescents can provide crucial information about the content and structure of a universal, school-based, peer-facilitated depression awareness program.
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U2 - 10.1111/j.1746-1561.2005.tb06666.x
DO - 10.1111/j.1746-1561.2005.tb06666.x
M3 - Article
C2 - 15989085
AN - SCOPUS:85047692302
VL - 75
SP - 162
EP - 170
JO - Journal of School Health
JF - Journal of School Health
SN - 0022-4391
IS - 5
ER -