Leslie P. Francis|Barry D. Weiss|Janet H. Senf|Kim Heist|R. B. Hargraves
Does Literacy Education Improve Symptoms of Depression and Self-efficacy in Individuals with Low Literacy and Depressive Symptoms? A Preliminary Investigation
University of Arizona|HealthPartners|University of Arizona|HealthPartners|University of Arizona|HealthPartners|University of Arizona|HealthPartners|University of Arizona|HealthPartners
background objectives individuals low literacy symptoms depression greater improvement depression symptoms treatment includes education enhance literacy skillsthe reason literacy enhancement helps depression symptoms unknown hypothesize might due improved selfefficacywe studied whether providing literacy education individuals depression symptoms limited literacy might improve selfefficacymethods studied 39 individuals enrolled adult literacy program testing patient health questionnaire phq9 symptoms depressionwhile participated literacy program monitored selfefficacy using general self efficacy gse scale also monitored severity depression symptoms phq9changes gse phq9 scores baseline assessed wilcoxon signed ranks testresults thirtyone 795 subjects participated 1 yearthere significant increase selfefficacy p 019and significant decrease depression symptoms p 002 conclusionthe results preliminary study suggest among persons low literacy symptoms depression depression symptoms lessen selfefficacy scores improve participation adult basic literacy education