Social Support and Depression Among Dialysis Patients

描述(由申请人提供)：拟议的三年研究和培训计划旨在促进候选人的学术发展，为她作为翻译研究科学家的职业生涯做准备。具体地说，该计划旨在(A)促进候选人从对人际关系进行实验性研究向对慢性病人群中的抑郁症进行干预前研究的过渡，以及(B)使候选人能够根据她的研究计划设计针对抑郁症的干预措施。研究计划描述如下。 这项拟议的研究项目的目的是确定影响肾功能衰竭透析治疗患者抑郁的可塑性因素。我们特别关注透析患者和他们的照顾者之间的情感和实际支持的交换，以分离给予和接受的独特效果。我们打算检查施予是否对施赠者有好处，以及接受是否会对感觉像负担的接受者产生不利影响。这些可能性通常被忽视了。相反，调查的重点是从关系伙伴那里获得支持的好处(House，Landis，&Umberson，1988)。一项由两波数据收集组成的纵向研究--基线和为期八个月的随访--旨在考察给予和接受社会支持、感觉像个负担以及其他一些人格和关系措施对抑郁、健康和幸福感的独特影响。密歇根大学卫生保健系统的160名透析患者将被邀请参加为期8个月的两次1小时的访谈。参与者将被要求回答关于他们目前的心理健康状况(例如，抑郁、焦虑)的问题，以及关于他们与照顾者的关系(例如，社会纽带、交换社会支持)的问题。此外，护理者报告和医疗记录表明患者的健康和遵从性将与人际关系衡量标准相关联。该项目的结果将用于开发和测试针对透析患者的心理健康干预措施，该干预措施考虑到社会支持的潜在风险和好处。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed three-year research and training plan is designed to foster the academic development of the candidate in preparation for her career as a translation research scientist. Specifically, the plan is intended to (a) foster the candidate's transition from conducting experimental research on interpersonal relationships to conducting pre-intervention research on depression in chronically ill populations and (b) enable the candidate to design an intervention for depression that is informed by her program of research. The research plan is described below. The purpose of the proposed research project is to identify malleable factors that influence depression among patients undergoing dialysis therapy for renal failure. We direct special focus on the exchange of emotional and practical support between dialysis patients and their caregivers in order to isolate the unique effects of giving and receiving. We intend to examine whether giving has beneficial effects for the giver, and whether receiving has adverse effects for recipients who feel like a burden. These possibilities have typically been overlooked. Instead, investigations have focused on the benefits of receiving support from relationship partners (House, Landis, & Umberson, 1988). A longitudinal study consisting of two waves of data collection--baseline and an eight-month follow-up-is proposed to examine the unique effects of giving and receiving social support, feeling like a burden, and a number of other personality and relationship measures on depression, health, and well-being. 160 dialysis patients within the University of Michigan Health Care System will be invited to participate in two 1-hour interviews over the course of eight months. Participants will be asked to respond to questions about their current mental health status (e.g., depression, anxiety), and about their relationship to a caregiver (e.g., social bonds, the exchange of social support). In addition, caregiver reports and medical records indicating patient health and compliance will be correlated with interpersonal relationship measures. The results of this project will be used to develop and test a mental health intervention for dialysis patients that takes into consideration the potential risks and benefits of social support.