Low Mood Improvement for Thalidomide Survivors - Mood Survey
Aims
The Mood Survey is the first stage of the wider Low Mood Improvement for Thalidomide Survivors study and it’s aim is to gather data from all beneficiaries that will provide a detailed picture of the extent and severity of depression and anxiety amongst UK thalidomide survivors.
This information will then be used to set the context for the next stages of the study and will also help inform the general work of the Trust going forward.
The main areas explored were:
- Biographical Information – gender, home circumstances, work situation
- Depression – using the Patient Health Questionnaire to explore how a person has felt over the past 2 weeks
- Generalised Anxiety – a series of questions to establish how anxious a person feels generally
- Health related Quality of Life – asking participants to indicate their health state in relation to these areas of their lives: mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort, anxiety/depression
- Open Questions – to establish what activities people did, what gives them positive feelings, more information about their mental wellbeing
What was found
The Mood Survey has provided a much more detailed picture of depression, anxiety and health status amongst UK thalidomide survivors than was previously available. There are three key findings:
High prevalence of depression and anxiety - The questionnaire’s results suggest that all levels of depression and anxiety are far more prevalent amongst thalidomide survivors, than the general population.
Small group of beneficiaries with very poor mental wellbeing - The results from these two questionnaires, together with the responses to the open questions, suggest that there is a group of beneficiaries, perhaps 10% to 15%, with very poor mental wellbeing.
Impact of physical health problems on mental wellbeing - The open questions confirmed some of what was already known about the effect that declining health, pain, and loss of function is having of beneficiaries’ mental wellbeing. However, they also revealed the wide range of experiences, attitudes and circumstances within the thalidomide community. This reinforces the need for an approach to tackling poor mental wellbeing that is both flexible and targeted, and could include addressing physical problems such as disabling chronic pain, which increase the risk of low mood and depression.
Read the detailed Mood Survey findings
