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Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)

Department

Nursing

Thesis Committee Chairperson

Lisa Ball, PhD, RN, FNP-BC

Second Reader

Christopher Kerr, MD, PhD

Abstract

Purpose: Depression in young men and suicide for men under the age of 35 years old are growing health concerns in the United States (Haig, 2015). There remains a relatively limited amount of scholarly evidence related to investigating young men’s knowledge and perceptions of depression in the U.S. (Ellis et al., 2013; Richardson et al., 2013). The purpose of this study was to address the knowledge and perceptions of depression in the population of young men within the U.S.

Method: This was an anonymous descriptive quantitative survey study that utilized the Depression Literacy Questionnaire (D-Lit) to illuminate the knowledge and perceptions of depression among young men in the United States. Kathy Griffiths developed this 22-item tool utilized. Data was collected via SurveyMonkey and analyzed using IMB SPSS Statistics Version 24. Descriptive statistics such as measures of central tendency, range, standard deviation, and percentages were calculated. Inferential statistics were also calculated.

Findings: Data from a total of 51 male participants was analyzed for this study. Participants’ ages ranged from 18 to 35, with a mean of 27.86 years old and a standard deviation of 5.242. The average score on the D-Lit was 12.2 (55.5%). There was a significant relationship between DLit score and knowing someone who's personally experienced depression (P=. 010). Overall participants presented with a lack of or limited knowledge of depression and heightened perception.

Conclusions: The results of the study as well as previous research support the low depression literacy and heightened perception of depression in young males in the US. With various limitations to this study, further research is warranted.

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