Health Psychology-Assignment 1: Science in the news (Essay Sample)

Health Psychology-Assignment 1: Science in the news Name Institution Introduction The article “can treating depression improve disease outcome” is based on an earlier article that discuss the effectiveness of managing depression in the care of diabetes patients and how it affects outcome. The article argues that there is a correlation between depression and changes in the body homeostatic system. The scholarly article establishes that the recovery of patients suffering from depression is aided by the treatment of depression in the patients. The article accurately reports the findings in the scholar journal because it appreciates the limitation of available information but asserts that a correlation exist, however, the relationship is not evident. The original article reports about a field research involving 1801 participants in 18 primary health care clinics. The results of the research establish that improving depression treatment in older patients (60 years or more) improves diabetic outcomes. Health Psychology-Assignment 1: Science in the news The news article is an accurate representation of the findings in the scholarly journal because it is filled with quotes and statistics from the findings. The article does not claim to report profound revelations about the nature of depression and its influence in disease development. However, it asserts a logical belief that depression has a bearing on disease outcome, especially in individuals suffering from diabetes (Jackson, DeZee, & Berbano, 2004). The most likely mechanism that depression affects disease outcomes is through the reduction in the probability of adhering to care recommendations. Depression is also associated with degenerative health habits, such as smoking and consumption of alcohol. Although the mechanism described above is the most obvious and observable, depression also affects many physiological processes because it alters the body biochemistry (Williams et al, 2004). The article appreciates the limitations in the information available. According to the author of the article, treating depression improves a patient’s comorbid medical outcomes; however, the findings in clinical trials are disputable. The article also appreciates the shortcomings of the research that could render the findings inconclusive. The article also draws information from other medical research articles with findings that either opposes or support a finding in the scholarly article. Although there are articles that dispute the findings in the article, their findings are not conclusive (Williams et al, 2004). A particular article that stands out is an observational study that seeks to establish a relationship between myocardial infarction and cardiac morbidity. This article has contradicting information; however, it was too small and short to be conclusive. The 5% effect in the findings is statistically insignificant (Contrada, & Baum, 2011). The article goes into detail to compare the nature of the research for the findings in the scholarly article with that of other research findings that contradict its findings. Whereas the other research findings had numerous limitations, the limitation in the reviewed article is that the participants were highly motivated to follow through with self-care (Ciechanowski, Katon, & Russo, 2000). The study was well structured and had enough subjects to draw statistically significant results. Other than quoting from the original article and using statistics from the article to assert its position, the authors of the articles are medical professionals who un...