{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,20]],"date-time":"2026-07-20T19:14:15Z","timestamp":1784574855171,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,28]],"date-time":"2025-10-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1761609600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nursing Reports"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Introduction: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a mental disorder with a high prevalence rate and a high recurrence rate. Therefore, identifying and intervening in the core symptoms of MDD patients is of great significance. Anhedonia is manifested as an individual losing interest in activities or experiencing a significant decrease in the sense of pleasure, which is one of the two core symptoms of MDD. Episodic Future Thinking (EFT) training refers to the process of stimulating individuals\u2019 hope for positive future scenarios and encouraging them to take purposeful actions, which may have an effect in alleviating anhedonia. However, the perception of anhedonia of MDD patients among Chinese healthcare professionals is still unclear, and there has been no exploration of the views of healthcare professionals regarding the implementation of EFT training for MDD patients led by psychiatric nurses in a clinical setting. Aim: This study aimed to understand the attention paid by Chinese healthcare professionals to the symptom of anhedonia in patients with MDD, as well as their previous coping strategies. This study further explored the views of healthcare professionals regarding the implementation of EFT training for MDD patients led by psychiatric nurses with a psychological therapist certificate in China, as well as suggestions for future implementation. Methods: This qualitative descriptive study adopted a phenomenological approach. Using purposive sampling, 15 healthcare professionals (psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses and psychological counselors) were recruited from the psychiatry department of a public tertiary hospital in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China. Using the NVivo 12 Plus software, the semi-structured interviews and analyses were conducted by applying Colaizzi\u2019s seven-step phenomenological method. Rigor was ensured through checks of credibility, dependability, and confirmability during data collection and analysis. Results: A thematic analysis revealed that, while psychia-trists and psychological counselors viewed anhedonia as a significant treatment target, nurses were more focused on immediate patient safety concerns. Participants recognized the potential of EFT training to alleviate anhedonia but identified several implementation challenges, including patient resistance, cognitive limitations, and the need for tailored interventions. Conclusions: The research results indicated that psychiatric nurses had relatively poor ability to identify anhedonia. Therefore, it is necessary to enhance the awareness of psychiatric nurses regarding the clinical significance of anhedonia, and incorporate knowledge related to anhedonia into routine nursing training. It is suggested that communication and collaboration among psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses and psychological counselors should be strengthened, and an assessment and feedback process for the lack of anhedonia in patients with MDD should be established, so as to assist these patients in achieving faster psychological recovery. Given the sufficient staffing conditions in the field of psychiatry nursing in China, the design concept and curriculum of EFT training for psychiatry nurses with a psychological therapist certificate should be promoted. Encourage psychiatry nurses with a psychological therapist certificate to conduct offline and online group EFT training intervention forms for MDD patients in the hospital wards during their hospitalization periods, as well as after discharge at home.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nursrep15110384","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,29]],"date-time":"2025-10-29T02:23:28Z","timestamp":1761704608000},"page":"384","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Healthcare Professionals\u2019 Perceptions of Anhedonia in Major Depressive Disorder and the Possibilities of Episodic Future Thinking Training: A Qualitative Study in a Tertiary Care Hospital"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Minghao","family":"Pan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China"},{"name":"Center for Wise Information Technology of Mental Health Nursing Research, School of Nursing, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5656-5364","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Huijing","family":"Zou","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Wise Information Technology of Mental Health Nursing Research, School of Nursing, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3079-3921","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dan","family":"Luo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Wise Information Technology of Mental Health Nursing Research, School of Nursing, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9422-6868","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xiao Qin","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Wise Information Technology of Mental Health Nursing Research, School of Nursing, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qian","family":"Liu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Wise Information Technology of Mental Health Nursing Research, School of Nursing, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Meiyu","family":"Shen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xiaofen","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xuan","family":"Gong","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0227-4342","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bing Xiang","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China"},{"name":"Center for Wise Information Technology of Mental Health Nursing Research, School of Nursing, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, China"},{"name":"Research Center for Lifespan Health, School of Nursing, Wuhan University, 115 Donghu Road, Wuhan 430060, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1204","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(20)30925-9","article-title":"Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990\u20132019: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019","volume":"396","author":"Vos","year":"2020","journal-title":"Lancet"},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"WHO (2024, November 12). 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