Rumination, Activity Participation and Subjective Well-being in Persons with Depression

Signature Grand, Davie, Florida, USA

Objective. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of rumination on activity participation and subjective well-being in persons with depression. Background. Rumination is a commonly observed and widely documented clinical problem in persons with depression. Those with rumination respond to their illness with repetitive and passive thinking toward the symptoms and their possible causes and consequences. Although existing literature has addressed relationships between rumination and subjective well-being, little is known about real life problems caused by rumination. Methods. This study used a crosssectional design. It was carried out at multiple hospitals in Taiwan. Data were collected at psychiatric outpatient and community facilities. Data were collected on 143 participants, mostly female (73%) with an average age of 43 and the majority diagnoses of major depression (49%) and bipolar II affective disorder (20%). The instruments used included the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Ruminative Response Scale (RRS), the Brief World Health Organization-Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BRIEF) Assessment- Taiwan version, and Activity Participation and Restriction Questionnaire (APRQ). Results. Results of path analysis revealed that rumination imposed significant impact on depression, activity participation, and quality of life. While quality of life had negative correlations with depression, there was no significant correlation between activity participation and depression (Chi-square= 329.14, Goodness-of-fit: 0.63265, RMSEA: 0.24203, Bentler- Bonnett NFI = 0.51207, Bentler CFI = 0.5317, BIC = 139.91). Conclusion. Although the preliminary path analysis yielded a statistically significant model, the conceptual framework is under refinement at the moment. Tentative model with theoretical and clinical implications will be presented at the Research Day.