Introduction:
It is extremely important to understand how patients conceptualize depression and how they assess the care received, since their perception of both the disorder and health services influences their access to and interaction with the health-care system. Furthermore, clinical management of depression is, among other factors, influenced by the attitudes of the professionals involved. Therefore, it is of great interest to have this information and know about the barriers to and facilitators for adopting proposed evidencebased recommendations in clinical practice guidelines (CPGs). A qualitative approach can furnish evidence on these aspects, bearing in mind that there are factors which are difficult to assess by means of quantitative research.

Objectives:
This study’s overall aim was to explore the views held by patients, relatives and professionals about depression and its clinical management. The specific objectives were: firstly, to analyse the experience of depression and the health-care process from the point of view of patients, their families and professionals; and secondly, to assess -at first handpatients’ expectations at different points of the process, identifying both the strengths and the principal areas for improvement.

Methods:
With the aim of achieving a more complete and comprehensive picture of the designated objectives, a mixed methodological approach were employed, by combining a systematic review of the literature with a qualitative study. To this end, a bibliographic search was conducted in the following databases: Medline (PubMed); Embase and PsycINFO (Ovid). Two independent reviewers selected those qualitative studies that focused on analysing patients’, relatives’ and professionals’ perceptions of depression and its clinical management. While the CASPe checklist (Critical Appraisal Skills Programme Español) and method proposed by Goldsmith et al (2007) were used for quality assessment, thematic analysis of the data was used for analysing and summarising the qualitative evidence. To undertake the empirical study, we opted for the focus group technique. Participants were recruited with the collaboration of professionals drawn from the Galician Health Service(Servizo Galego de Saúde-SERGAS) and the Galician Federation of Associations of Relatives and Persons with Mental Disease (Federación de Asociaciones de Familiares y Personas con Enfermedad Mental de Galicia-FEAFES). Transcripts were analysed by discourse analysis and categorisation of the information, with a double triangulation strategy being used for data and researchers.

Results and conclusions: see pdf summary below.