Dan J. Stein et al. published an article titled “Perceived Helpfulness of Treatment for Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A World Mental Health Surveys Report” in BMC Psychiatry scientific journal in 2021. The research is based on the theory of the importance of perceived helpfulness in treatment adherence; the actual findings of the study are detailed and portrayed accurately. The data came from World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative and was collected in 23 countries of varying income levels (Stein et al. 2). The researchers’ hypothesis can be identified as such: perceived helpfulness is related to receiving treatment for patients suffering from DSM-5 generalized anxiety disorder (GAD).
The type of research conducted in the study is correlational; the data was collected through WMH surveys of people diagnosed with GAD. Since the variable of treatment helpfulness cannot be directly measured, the researchers operationally defined it through a series of questions. They include questions on the matter of contacting a professional, receiving effective in their opinion treatment, and the number of professionals they talked to until getting helpful therapy. Other variables can be clearly recognized and include socio-demographic characteristics, lifetime comorbid conditions apart from GAD, treatment type and timing, and childhood adversities (Stein et al. 4).
The WMH surveys acquired for the current research used probability samples from populations worldwide. This sample does not appear to be representative since out of 23 countries participating in the survey, only 9 are low-income, and 17 are high-income (Stein et al. 2). Since the overall prevalence rate of people suffering from GAD is 4.5%, and the survey questioned such a low percentage of populations, the findings can be considered not generalized. However, the participants represent many cultures, demographical differences, income levels, and backgrounds, increasing the generalizability level of the study among people diagnosed with GAD.
The results report that only 34.6% of respondents have obtained GAD treatment; 19.2% were located in low/middle-income countries (Stein et al. 11). Out of the people who received help, 70% perceived it as effective (Stein et al. 12). The researchers also demonstrate that all patients could have obtained helpful treatment if their help-seeking persistence drove them to contact up to 10 professionals (Stein et al. 10). However, only 29.7% of the patients would have managed to do it for that long (Stein et al. 11). Additionally, receiving adequate medical attention at the personal level was associated with the type of treatment received, other mental health disorders, and childhood trauma, predicting, most importantly, persistence in seeking treatment (Stein et al. 13). Overall, the research serves the purpose of advocating for perceived helpfulness and underlining patients’ income as essential elements affecting receiving GAD treatment.
Based on the study’s limitation on the information on the quality of received treatment, as well as the nature of interventions, a recommendation can be given. For future research on the topic of GAD perceived helpfulness, the correlation between specific types of medical help delivery and patients’ perceived effectiveness and treatment adherence can be examined. Based on the study’s findings, it can be recommended to include perceived helpfulness as a variable in treating GAD patients. Additionally, this variable should be investigated in relation to other mental health disorders.
The particularly interesting information discovered in the research’s findings involves the rate of people with GAD who obtained helpful treatment, which is 70%. Such a number is higher than expected due to the fact that it required the respondents to have persisted in seeking help from up to 3-4 professionals after initial unhelpful treatment (Stein et al. 13). This information can be considered encouraging since GAD is rarely diagnosed compared to other anxiety disorders.
Work Cited
Stein, Dan J., et al. “Perceived Helpfulness of Treatment for Generalized Anxiety Disorder: A World Mental Health Surveys Report.”BMC Psychiatry, vol. 21, no. 1, 2021, pp. 1-14.