Attitude of general practitioners towards depressive disorders in the city of Douala in Cameroon

Introduction: in Cameroon, there is medical scepticism and negligence towards patients with mental disorders. Objective assessment might be the solution. Depressive disorders are the most common form of mental disorders and Douala has the second largest group of general practitioners in the country. Thus, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the attitude of general practitioners of Douala towards patients with depressive disorders. Method: we conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study of general outpatient services from February to June 2017. We asked 3 patients of each general practitioner enrolled in the study to fill the Patient Health Questionnaire version-9 (HQP-9) to assess if they were depressed. During each consultation, we filled a clinical information form to know whether the general practitioner had diagnosed a depressive disorder and, if so, which treatment he had adopted. Finally, we administered to general practitioner a questionnaire to know their challenges of treating depression. Results: the prevalence of depressive disorders in general practice consultations was estimated to be 32.5% in the city of Douala and the rate of diagnoses made by general practitioners was 1.92%. Diagnosed patients only received some. Conclusion: despite the low interest in depressive disorders, in Cameroon they are a public health problem due to their frequency and to depression-related morbi-mortality.