Effects of cognitive behavioural therapy on post stroke depression patients: a case of the University Teaching Hospital,Lusaka
Date
2017
Authors
Kapumpe, Chilufya
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
Post-stroke depression is one of the most serious neuropsychological consequences of stroke
and it affects about 35-70 % of patients with stroke. However, Pharmacological treatment
administered to post stroke depressed (PSD) patients, without an accompanying therapy,
appears not be sustainable enough in treating depression, and this may continue threatening
the lives of patients. The purpose of the study was to assess whether administering CBT to
PSD patients would improve their depression levels. The main objective of this study was to
determine the effects of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) on post-stroke depressed
patients; specifically, the study sought to establish whether there was a statistically significant
difference in overall depression scores between patients on CBT and those on non-CBT.
A randomised controlled trial was adopted for the study. Multi-stage sampling procedure was
used to select the participants. First, Purposive sampling was used to select 60 patients with
post-stroke depression. Then simple random sampling was used to assign equal number of
participants to the treatment group and control group. Data was collected through the Beck
Depression Inventory (BDI) score sheet ( ) with eight weeks treatment. Patients in the
experimental group were put on CBT whilst those in the control group continued receiving
the norm treatment (pharmacotherapy).
Data was analysed through Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) and Multiple
Linear Regression analysis. A 2×2 MANOVA indicated a statistically significant difference
in means depression scores between patients on CBT treatment and those on non-CBT.
Patients on CBT had lower mean depression score than those on non-CBT. The first general
regression was not statistically significant in both the CBT and the non-CBT data sets. The
second general regression model was statistically significant in both data sets, with 21
variables altogether explaining about 99.7% and 99.5% of the respective depression
variances. However, CBT had influence on more depressive symptoms than had non-CBT
treatment.
The study established that there was a statistically significant difference in the overall
depression scores between patients on CBT and those on non-CBT. Therefore, CBT was
effective in treating post-stroke depression, and the study recommended it as an additional
treatment therapy to the traditional pharmacological treatment.
Description
Thesis
Keywords
Cognitive-behavioural therapy--Post depressed stroke patients--Zambia , Mental disorders--Therapy--Older patients--Zambia