Research Journal #3

Article 1

1. Xu, F., Austin, M., Reilly, N., Hilder, L., & Sullivan, E. A. (2012). Major depressive disorder in the perinatal period: using data linkage to inform perinatal mental health policy. Archives of Women's Mental Health,15(5), 333-341. doi:10.1007/s00737-012-0289-8
2. This source is a policy research method kind of source, also can be a primary source. This article is testing out current polices which are in place regarding depressive disorders in an individual, and seeks to know if current polices are efficient enough nowadays. This primary source can be a tremendous help in acknowledging how currently treatment is offered for individuals with depressive disorders. This can help people so that they also are aware that they can get help.
3. This source is relevant to my research question because it shows the type and how treatment is being given to individuals with depressive disorders, mostly prenatal women. The policies expand more on the treatments, and if people are more aware of these then they are more likely to seek treatments. Depressive disorder in prenatal women has to be handled very carefully and polices describe how, therefore, the policy method is the best to cover the gap between this disorder and treatments. My question is based upon getting treatments for individuals with this, and making their quality of life better. The better the treatments are offered they more awareness there will be and more people will seek treatment. 
4. This source will be used in the results section as it acknowledges the need for treatment for individuals with depressive disorders. The conclusion from this article confirms more positive impact on prenatal women with depressive disorders if they are treated as the policies that currently governs depressive disorders state. This source can provide information about the treatments effecting positively on people with depressive disorders, mostly for pregnant women, and can show other that treatment is very important for these disorders.
5. One interesting thing I discovered while reading through this article was what this research was based upon. I did not realize that this many pregnant women had depressive disorders, and that they were being admitted into hospitals for this. Also, around this is that there was a policy for this, this was a new thing I discovered, and glad that there are protocols like these, even if they still need some work. 

Article 2

1. Betancourt, T. S., Frounfelker, R., Mishra, T., Hussein, A., & Falzarano, R. (2015). Addressing Health Disparities in the Mental Health of Refugee Children and Adolescents Through Community-Based Participatory Research: A Study in 2 Communities. American Journal of Public Health,105(S3). doi:10.2105/ajph.2014.302504
2. This source is a participatory action research kind of source and will be very helpful in my research. This research method had participants themselves be involved in making a positive impact towards their disorder. Participatory action research method allows for the participants to actually control their own results and be active in the research. This method enables the participants to take equal control over the research as the researchers can. The researchers can only perform a study, but over time it is up to the participants to how to control and improve their results. The participants, going through depressive disorders, have full control over their own health and how to improve it. The research was based upon a very general health disparities, so it had to be done so that each individual can handle their own health, therefore the PAR was chosen. 
3. This source is relevant to my research question in a indirect way. This research shows ways an individual with some sort of depressive disorder can be involved in their treatment and improve their mental health. Being more aware of your problem can lead to a better quality of life for these individuals. They will themselves know how to improve their own health even after the researchers are done with the experiment, because they will have control over themselves much better. Which is a very good type of treatment, PAR treatments can become a great part of a person suffering from this. This research method somewhat shows a way of treatment for people suffering from any kind of depressive disorders.
4. This source will be used in the results section of my literature review to display the types of treatments available for people with depressive disorders. This will acknowledge how they can take control of their lives and make the quality of their life better as they deal with the depressive disorder they are going through. This lets individuals know that they do not have to rely on someone but themselves to fix their disorder, but of course with the help of a professional.
5. One interesting thing I discovered through this article is that barriers within diverse populations can cause depressive health disparities among children living in that area. The children are not able to communicate sufficiently or openly express themselves based on their different culture. I had no idea these were the things children were going through and plus causing such a burden on their mental health. 

Article 3

1. Kathree, T., Selohilwe, O. M., Bhana, A., & Petersen, I. (2014). Perceptions of postnatal depression and health care needs in a South African sample: the “mental” in maternal health care. BMC Women's Health,14(1). doi:10.1186/s12905-014-0140-7
2. This source is an ethnography observational research, where only observation with no intervention technique was used. This study allowed for the observation of women in interviewing them, in the follow ups, and at the participants' home environment. They observed the lifestyle these women lived, in their post natal phase, and related that back to their depression. This allowed the study to be based on only the participant, and how they live their life daily.
3. This article is relevant to my topic as it recognizes the postnatal depressive disorder in a population of women in Africa, in terms of practice. It suggests that through the economic problems, and poverty problems, many women are facing this. It also suggests many ways this can be treated, mostly through counseling. For my question, it answers how this can be treated, as well as helps me narrow down my search to pregnant women or somewhere around that period of time, before or after.
4. This source will be used in my results section of the literature review as a knowledgable source letting know how the environment a women lives in after her pregnancy can have an effect on her mental health in terms of depressive disorder. It is a focus on how treatments can be done without a medical facility, but within a community itself for these types of disorders. This source will really show out of the box treatments available for people with depressive disorders, especially postnatal women.
5. One interesting thing I discovered through reading this article was that many things together can trigger depression, generalizing to other depressive disorders. I used to think it is probably things from the same subject, but this study proved that many different factors can all together cause depression.

Article 4

1. Vogelzangs, N., Duivis, H. E., Beekman, A. T., Kluft, C., Neuteboom, J., Hoogendijk, W., . . . Penninx, B. W. (2012). Association of depressive disorders, depression characteristics and antidepressant medication with inflammation. Translational Psychiatry,2(2). doi:10.1038/tp.2012.8
2. This article is a cohort causation association research method type of research. The outcomes was not known of the study they were performing, the long term effects of depressive and anxiety disorders. Also, the participants were from three different groups, each group had common characteristics. This method let the correlation be made between depressive disorders and antidepressants with inflammation from a cohort group of people, who all shared a common characteristic of having a depressive disorder.
3. This kind of source is relevant to my research question because my question and research is purely based upon people who have depressive disorder. The cohort research method allows that the people the results are based upon are also a group with this similar characteristic of having some sort of depressive disorder. This research allowed the results to be generalized to other cohort groups with depressive disorder.
4. This source will be used in the results section of my literature review as a resource to generalize the results of how mostly mental depressive disorder is related to what physically is occurring in the body. I can generalize these results to other populations of people who deal with some sort of depressive disorder, since this method allowed the results to only come from people with depressive disorder. 
5. One interesting thing I discovered in this article was the main topic itself. I did not know that health issues such as inflammation can cause depressive disorders. I used to think it was all mental factors triggering depression or anxiety. 

Article 5

1. Maddux, R. E., & Johansson, H. (2014). A case of depressive personality disorder: Aligning theory, practice, and clinical research. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment,5(1), 117-124. doi:10.1037/a0031680
2. This article is a practice type of research, it lets the study be basically based upon practice. Practice of what is right and wrong treatment for individuals with depressive disorders in my literature review. This method allows for experimenting what works and what does not, letting participants find out the treatment that allows them to improve their quality of life.
3. This kind of source is relevant to my research question because it helps find more treatment options for people who go through some sort of depressive disorder on a daily bases. The more ways a person dealing with these can cope, the more better their quality of life will be, which is what will be gained as the result of the treatments. More people will be able to connect with some method to improve their mental health therefore more will seek treatment. 
4. This source will be used in the results section of my literature review as a resource to provide many treatment options for people with any type of depressive disorder. This source will provide treatments, which in the study have worked out well, will be generalized to be used or try on people who go through these situations daily. The practice method can really show also how practice within a treatment can help improve mental health for these types of disorders.
5. One interesting thing that I found while reading the article was that there is something called depressive personality disorder, I did not ever knew that personality disorder can be associated with depressive disorder

Class Work; 4 Different Research Method Articles

~~~~~

1. Xu, F., Austin, M., Reilly, N., Hilder, L., & Sullivan, E. A. (2012). Major depressive disorder in the perinatal period: using data linkage to inform perinatal mental health policy. Archives of Women's Mental Health,15(5), 333-341. doi:10.1007/s00737-012-0289-8
2. Policy Research Method
3. The authors used this method in order to acknowledge prenatal mental health policy, and how it is helpful for pregnant women with depression, mainly. Policy method shows how this disorder is being handled in the health field. This method enables the authors to test out the policies' currently in play, and according to them treat prenatal women, and see the results being positive health wise. This method was chosen over others, because they were trying to inform the audience the way health practices manage pregnancy with women with depression, they were not trying to gain something new out of this. The thing about this topic that led the authors to use this research method was that medicine has protocols for pregnant women with depressive disorders, therefore this topic had a policy to govern these problems, leading them to use the policy method.
4. The conclusion of this study was that it "confirms the pattern of depressive disorder hospital admissions" from past studies, concluding that the policy currently in play is governing prenatal depression in the right way. Policy method let the authors, follow the protocols of it and confirm that it governs in an appropriate health manner. They also concluded that while prenatal depression is being taken care of, we need to also focus on postpartum depression. The policy for this is now being "advocated" to do an intervention for women with depression following pregnancy. The current policy did not match the standards to which postpartum depression should be treated, because many women had depression and were not getting the right treatment. 
5. One interesting thing I discovered while leafing through this article was what this research was based upon. I did not realize that this many pregnant women had depressive disorders, and that they were being admitted into hospitals for this. Also, around this is that there was a policy for this, this was a new thing I discovered, and glad that there are protocols like these, even if they still need some work. 

~~~~~

1. Betancourt, T. S., Frounfelker, R., Mishra, T., Hussein, A., & Falzarano, R. (2015). Addressing Health Disparities in the Mental Health of Refugee Children and Adolescents Through Community-Based Participatory Research: A Study in 2 Communities. American Journal of Public Health,105(S3). doi:10.2105/ajph.2014.302504
2. Participatory Action Research
3. The authors used this method in order to involve subjects, refugee children and adolescents in a community, in an experiment which will end up helping them, and the participants will also have to manage somewhat of this. Participatory action research method allows for the participants to actually control their own results and be active in the research. This method was chosen over others, because the authors wanted the participants to stay involved and active with their own results and in what way they can manage them and improve their mental health caused by depressive disorder of some sort. This method enables the participants to take equal control over the research as the researchers can. The researchers can only perform a study, but over time it is up to the participants to how to control and improve their results. The research was based upon a very general health disparities, so it had to be done so that each individual can handle their own health, therefore the PAR was chosen.
4. The conclusion of this study was that there are many barriers due to culture, causing health disparities such as depressive disorders in children. The PAR method let the children and their parents, acknowledge what was going on and how all this can be reduced. They also concluded that mental health screening tools are to be made in order to help children like these who live in diverse populations, and have barriers which don't allow them to openly express themselves. This will make people more aware of the problem and most probably they will seek treatment. The PAR method allowed each individual in the study to communicate how they felt, and got different types of interventions based upon this. But, it is up to the subject to keep up with the intervention and improve their health. 
5. One interesting thing I discovered through this article is that barriers within diverse populations can cause depressive health disparities among children living in that area. The children are not able to communicate sufficiently or openly express themselves based on their different culture. I had no idea these were the things children were going through and plus causing such a burden on their mental health. 

~~~~~

1. Kathree, T., Selohilwe, O. M., Bhana, A., & Petersen, I. (2014). Perceptions of postnatal depression and health care needs in a South African sample: the “mental” in maternal health care. BMC Women's Health,14(1). doi:10.1186/s12905-014-0140-7
2. Ethnography Observational Research
3. The authors used this method in studying possibly how and why depression in post natal women occur in Africa. This study also probably can be generalized to other parts of the world with a poor environment. The authors used this study because they observed women in interviewing them, in the follow ups, and at the participants' home environment. They observed the lifestyle these women lived, in their post natal phase, and related that back to their depression. This method specifically enabled the authors to observe women with depression after birth, without any intervention being done. This allowed the study to be based on only the participant, and how they live their life daily. This was also the reason to choose this method over others, it allowed natural observation without any change, which could conclude to why women had depression based on their way of life after giving birth. The authors wanted to know how the environment, culturally and systematically, effect post natal womens' health causing depression.
4. The conclusion of this study was very vague. It concluded that post natal depression in women in Africa had many factors surrounding it, such as; "Poverty, unwanted pregnancy and interpersonal conflict including partner rejection and associated lack of mater- ial and social support as well as conflicts including do- mestic violence," (Kathree). This method allowed the authors to observe what women went through in their lives and what type of environment they lived in. Observational study made it easier to correlate depression to their environment. 
5. One interesting thing I discovered through reading this article was that many things together can trigger depression, generalizing to other depressive disorders. I used to think it is probably things from the same subject, but this study proved that many different factors can all together cause depression.

~~~~~

1. Vogelzangs, N., Duivis, H. E., Beekman, A. T., Kluft, C., Neuteboom, J., Hoogendijk, W., . . . Penninx, B. W. (2012). Association of depressive disorders, depression characteristics and antidepressant medication with inflammation. Translational Psychiatry,2(2). doi:10.1038/tp.2012.8
2. Cohort Causation Association Research
3. The authors have used this method because they did not know what the outcome would be of the study they were performing, the long term effects of depressive and anxiety disorders. Also, the participants were from three different groups, each group had common characteristics. The authors used this method because it helped them see the association of depressive and anxiety disorders and their medications with inflammation, in a cohort group of depressed individuals. This method allowed the authors to conform the correlation because all individuals with similar characteristics showed the same results regarding this. This method was chosen over others because it allowed for cohort group of individuals, with similar characteristics, to be the participants of this study. The authors wanted to see of individuals with depressive disorders will all react the same with antidepressant with inflammation, which this study method allowed them to observe and come to the conclusion based upon many similar results. 
4. The conclusion of this study confirmed that "immune dysregulation" was present in depressed people, which showed a clear association of inflammation with depression. This method allowed the authors to test a cohort group, with similar characteristics, allowing them to make their conclusion more valid. More depressed people showed this association of inflammation in their immune system with depression, which led the conclusion to confirm this claim. 
5. One interesting thing I discovered in this article was the main topic itself. I did not know that health issues such as inflammation can cause depressive disorders. I used to think it was all mental factors triggering depression or anxiety. 

Research Journal #2

What is your topic? Or what are your key words thus far?
~My topic is still on depressive disorder awareness.
~Keywords so far:

• Depressive Disorders
• Awareness
• Treatment
• Anxiety
• Quality of Life

What is your research question? Have you decided to change it at all? And, if you have, how do I know that the way in which this question is formulated is appropriate to conduct a literature review with a systematic approach? 
~My research question is "How depressive disorders effect the quality of life and how awareness can be spread to seek treatment?"
~I have changed it up a bit, last time it was all over the place, I am a bit more precise about it right now. But I do wish to narrow it down, maybe towards depressive disorder in women or women who are pregnant. 

And what are the definitions on which it depends?
~Public Health; health of an entire population, which is regulated by experts in order to improve health.
~Policy Research; study of polices which currently govern a particular part of health, for my research.
~Practice Research; investigation regarding knowledge of a topic by practicing a way to fix it.
~Participatory Action Research; the subject, an individual with depressive disorder, will take part in the study where he or she will be in control of their own data and reporting.

What is your hierarchy of evidence? And how do I know you going about finding the most appropriate evidence/method for your research question?
~Hierarchy of Evidence

• Policy Method
• PAR 
• Practice Method
• Cohort Method
• Ethnography Method

~Well my research question primarily focuses on "how" something can be done, and in medical terms the "hows" are policies, for which it is the most important to change or add on to a policy, a way to govern a population. How depressive disorders effect an individual, but more how to let them know about treatment options.

~How do I know that the remit of the method itself is selecting the research, rather than just you on a whim? + 1 thing you found interesting + how you imagine using the source.
~Article 1
Xu, F., Austin, M., Reilly, N., Hilder, L., & Sullivan, E. A. (2012). Major depressive disorder in the perinatal period: using data linkage to inform perinatal mental health policy. Archives of Women's Mental Health,15(5), 333-341. doi:10.1007/s00737-012-0289-8

This article relates to my topic directly because it is testing out a current policy in place for treatment of women in their prenatal period with depressive disorders. It's testing out the way a hospital, clinic, or any medical practice in general will handle this matter. This is focused on prenatal women, so much narrowed down also. It lets us know if the current policy is working or not, so far it is for the most part as a prenatal condition treatment. But the policy currently needs to have some additions regarding the postnatal period of women's' lives as they still show signs of depressive disorders. One thing I found interesting, which mainly is what this article is on, is that there is a such thing as a policy for pregnant women with depressive disorders, I was not aware of this. I imagine using this source as a respect to policy methods, regarding my topic, and also when I am sure that I have narrowed my search to prenatal depressive women. 

~Article 2
Betancourt, T. S., Frounfelker, R., Mishra, T., Hussein, A., & Falzarano, R. (2015). Addressing Health Disparities in the Mental Health of Refugee Children and Adolescents Through Community-Based Participatory Research: A Study in 2 Communities. American Journal of Public Health,105(S3). doi:10.2105/ajph.2014.302504

This article relates to my topic because of the need for treatment it displays. It's a study done on two different communities from the same culture residing in America, and how they face barriers and cannot get treatment for depressive disorders, which is what the second half of my research question focuses on. It acknowledges that culture plays a big role in this, and we need to culturally make people aware of this problem, and what a burden it can cause on children and adolescents, specifically in this article. But I believe we can generalize this, as I face somewhat of this culture issue as well, and I am sure many adults also do, but never got treatment. One thing I found interesting is that children go through these disorders as well, more than I thought so, which is a sad fact. I imagine using this source as a way to show why there is a treatment gap.

~Article 3
Vogelzangs, N., Duivis, H. E., Beekman, A. T., Kluft, C., Neuteboom, J., Hoogendijk, W., . . . Penninx, B. W. (2012). Association of depressive disorders, depression characteristics and antidepressant medication with inflammation. Translational Psychiatry,2(2). doi:10.1038/tp.2012.8

This article relates directly to my topic, because it discuses very scientifically how inflammation in the immune system can bring about depressive disorder in an individual. It found, specially in men, that this was partially responsible for the depressive disorders, and this can solve the treatment gap as far as my question asks. If this in the future be generalized to all, then we can start solving this through treating the inflammation rather than the depressive disorder itself. I found interesting that this inflammation could mentally effect a person causing depressive disorders. I imagine using this source as a way to explain why depressive disorders happen, and the different way we can treat them.

~Article 4
Kathree, T., Selohilwe, O. M., Bhana, A., & Petersen, I. (2014). Perceptions of postnatal depression and health care needs in a South African sample: the “mental” in maternal health care. BMC Women's Health,14(1). doi:10.1186/s12905-014-0140-7

This article relates to my topic as it recognizes the postnatal depressive disorder in a population of women in Africa, in terms of practice. It suggests that through the economic problems, and poverty problems, many women are facing this. It also suggests many ways this can be treated, mostly through counseling. For my question, it answers how this can be treated, as well as helps me narrow down my search to pregnant women or somewhere around that period of time, before or after. I found it interesting that the environment, physically, that one lives in can cause depressive disorders. I can imagine using this as a source where I can discuss ways how depressive disorder occurs, specifically in postnatal period for a women, also how the environment influences it and how counseling can be beneficial. 

~Article 5
Maddux, R. E., & Johansson, H. (2014). A case of depressive personality disorder: Aligning theory, practice, and clinical research. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment,5(1), 117-124. doi:10.1037/a0031680

This article relates to my topic because it shows how depressive disorder effects the person, who has it, and how they go on with their lives, but this article focuses on depressive personality disorder, which can be somewhat generalized to other depressive disorders I believe. I found it interesting that there is something called depressive personality disorder, I did not ever knew that personality disorder can be associated with depressive disorder. I imagine using this source as a narrowed down perspective, and displaying the quality of life for one with a depressive disorder. 

Anything else interesting happen?
~Nothing interesting happening but I am confused as to which path I should take while trying to narrow down my topic; either pregnant women with depressive disorders, or focus on more detailed and narrow type of depressive disorder, I am still researching and trying to do this. 

Research Journal #1, Audio (Major Decision)

Research Journal #1

What was the process by which you narrowed down potential topics to two appropriate ones? And how were these decisions made on the basis of either class discussion, or our required, course textbook (Aveyard 2014), or both?
~The process by which I narrowed down potential topics to two appropriate ones was what interested me. I took deep interest in researching about anxiety and depressive disorders, because I face these myself. I started to find few articles on how the quality of life is effected of an individual with these disorder/s. Also, how this correlated with no treatment being done, or no help being asked for. Mostly the class discussions helped me make my decisions; we learned how to narrow a search down in many ways, and I have used those in finding my topics. I used key terms such as, "anxiety" and "depressive disorders," then I found the treatment gap articles, and I have narrowed my search to that point so far. 

What research question did you choose, and how are I can be sure you're making a reasoned, academic judgement on the basis of chapters 1-3 (Aveyard 2014)?
~The research question I chose, as of right now, is; What and how awareness can be brought for individuals facing depressive disorders to seek treatment in order to improve their quality of life? I am making a reasoned judgement, because these disorders do interfere with everyday life, and there is not enough awareness about these and many go undiagnosed.

What article (or articles) are you basing this question on, and what type of article is it (research, theory, policy, practice) (citation[s] in APA, please)? 
~
Policy and Practice
Kohn, R., Saxena, S., Levav, I., & Saraceno, B. (2004). The treatment gap in mental health care.    Retrieved January 29, 2017.

Policy and Cohort

Mendlowicz, M. V., & Stein, M. B. (2000). Quality of Life in Individuals With Anxiety Disorders. American Journal of Psychiatry,157(5), 669-682. doi:10.1176/appi.ajp.157.5.669

Policy and Cohort 

Ustun, T. B., Ayuso-Mateos, J. L., Chatterji, S., Mathers, C., & Murray, C. L. (2004). Global burden of depressive disorders in the year 2000. The British Journal of Psychiatry,184(5), 386-392. doi:10.1192/bjp.184.5.386

How can I be sure that the key vocabulary of the question corresponds not only to literature in the field, but also to chapter 1-3 (Aveyard 2014)?

~Well I am still not sure if the key vocabulary of my question corresponds to literature and to chapters 1-3 (Aveyard 2014). This is because I still need to do more research on these key vocabulary regarding my research to find more reliable articles. 

Based on what your question is, what kind of literature are you going to need? Again, please explicitly reference the text (Aveyard 2014). What is your hierarchy of evidence?

~The kind of literature I am going to need;

1. Qualitative review; qualitative description of quality of life going negative without treatment from the depressive disorders
2. Quantitative review; from past studies, how many individuals with depressive disorders go untreated
3. Opinions; opinions on this public health problem from experts in public health or who have themselves gone through these disorders

How exactly did you research question arise out of "practice"?

~Well I am not sure how it directly arose from "practice" but I think the people who diagnose these disorders do know how many people come for treatment and how many do not, according to many people acknowledging symptoms. Also, experts from these fields have practice and know what these cause for an individual everyday going through these depressive untreated disorders.

How do you define your key terms, and how do these definitions link to key journals in the field?

~Anxiety; feeling of unease

~Depression; unhappy, feeling down

~Depressive Disorders; any disorder making you feel negative (many negative feelings, etc) persistently 

~These definitions link to key journals in the field of my research directly, this is what my topic is based upon. I have used these terms only to find my topic, because I wished to keep it narrowed.

Did anything unexpected happen? From you initial search, does it appear as though your research question will work? Or does the vocabulary and/or type of research sought need to be changed?

~Something unexpected happened in one of the articles I chose, it had only 1 page explaining the "research" done on the quality of life for individuals with depressive disorders. But it had many pages just explaining and talking about this. I was expecting more on the initial research though. 

~From the initial search, now it seems like still that my question might work well, but I will probably have to end up changing it around a bit. I will probably have to narrow my search more and add the current vocabulary terms with new ones I might find while searching more. 

Any final thoughts?

~Do more research and try to find more articles to support my question is my best bet for this. Otherwise I should start heading a new direction around my topic, and get a new research question, SOON!!

Explaining My Topic

My topic revolves around anxiety and similar depressive disorders, and how awareness is needed for these disorders to fill the gap between treatment. Mostly these go untreated or officially undiagnosed in individuals, even if they know they have it, people tend not to seek help. This directly effects their quality of life, depressive disorders become a part of every thing you do on a daily bases. This is a substantial public health problem, because individuals with these disorders are making life harder and putting burden on themselves daily to do everyday life chores. Public health is here to make living easier for people, therefore people need to be aware that there are treatments if not treat it all the way, at least can make the process easier to live with.

Explaining My Topic, Audio