VÅRD AV ÄLDRE VID DEPRESSION : En Litteraturöversikt Om Sjuksköterskors Erfarenheter

Sammanfattning: Background: Depression in adults is underdiagnosed and associated by society as a natural step in the aging process. Nurses should have a holistic view but when it comes to caring for elderly the focus is predominantly on somatic care. Problem: Nurses who work outside of psychiatry have little knowledge of how to identify, treat and receive older persons suffering from depression. Aim: To describe nurses’ experiences in caring for older people with depression. Method: General literature review according to Friberg where seven qualitative and three quantitative articles are examined to find themes in the differences and similarities found among the articles. Result: The results is presented under three themes; importance of Caring, identification of depression in old people and the importance of knowledge. Some nurses had difficulties in identifying depression in old people. Nurses felt a lack of knowledge on how to deal with persons with depression. It is common that nurses lack knowledge when meeting with people suffering from depression because they do not know how to handle them. Findings: Nurses needs to be educated to get more knowledge about depression. Increased knowledge leads to improved quality of care, eased suffering, and increase quality of life for older people.