Talk to the Veterans Crisis Line now
U.S. flag
An official website of the United States government

VA Health Systems Research

Go to the VA ORD website
Go to the QUERI website

HSR Citation Abstract

Search | Search by Center | Search by Source | Keywords in Title

The Importance of "Being There": a Qualitative Study of What Veterans with Depression Want in Social Support.

Teo AR, Marsh HE, Ono SS, Nicolaidis C, Saha S, Dobscha SK. The Importance of "Being There": a Qualitative Study of What Veterans with Depression Want in Social Support. Journal of general internal medicine. 2020 Jul 1; 35(7):1954-1962.

Dimensions for VA is a web-based tool available to VA staff that enables detailed searches of published research and research projects.

If you have VA-Intranet access, click here for more information vaww.hsrd.research.va.gov/dimensions/

VA staff not currently on the VA network can access Dimensions by registering for an account using their VA email address.
   Search Dimensions for VA for this citation
* Don't have VA-internal network access or a VA email address? Try searching the free-to-the-public version of Dimensions



Abstract:

BACKGROUND: Social connectedness exerts strong influences on health, including major depression and suicide. A major component of social connectedness is having individual relationships with close supports, romantic partners, and other trusted members of one''s social network. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to understand how individuals'' relationships with close supports might be leveraged to improve outcomes for primary care patients with depression and at risk for suicide. DESIGN: In this qualitative study, we used a semi-structured interview guide to probe patient experiences, views, and preferences related to social support. PARTICIPANTS: We conducted interviews with 30 primary care patients at a Veterans Health Administration (VA) medical center who had symptoms of major depression and a close support. APPROACH: Thematic analysis of qualitative interview data examined close supports'' impact on patients. We iteratively developed a codebook, used output from codes to sort data into themes, and selected quotations that exemplified themes for inclusion in this manuscript. KEY RESULTS: "Being there" as an important quality of close supports emerged as a key concept. "Being there" was defined in three ways: physical proximity, frequent or responsive contact, or perceived availability. Close supports who were effective at "being there" possessed skills in intuitively sensing the patient''s emotional state and communicating indirectly about depression. Three major barriers to involving close supports in depression care were concerns of overburdening the close support, a perception that awareness of the patient''s depression would make the close support unnecessarily worried, and a desire and preference among patients to handle depression on their own. CONCLUSIONS: "Being there" represents a novel, patient-generated way to conceptualize and talk about social support. Suicide prevention initiatives such as population-level communication campaigns might be improved by incorporating language used by patients and addressing attitudinal barriers to allowing help and involvement of close supports.





Questions about the HSR website? Email the Web Team

Any health information on this website is strictly for informational purposes and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose or treat any condition.