Attitudes toward health and communication in depressed older adults

Abstract

Geriatric depression (GD) entails unique challenges that result from the complex interplay of issues specific to either the aging or depressed, such as cognitive error and health anxiety. We conducted an interview study to assess issues encountered by depressed older adults in communication and perception of their conditions, and explore how personal tracking could mitigate such issues. Our results identify how patients? behavior and communication of their condition with others are impacted by their biases, informing how GD-specialized monitoring can be designed to facilitate recovery.