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This thesis examines the influence of the welfare effect of crafts and craft-communities in the lives of people with depression. The well-being effects of crafts has been studied extensively and from several different perspectives in recent decades. Some of these studies have been handled at a general level the meanings of crafts for the mental health, but little is known about the benefits of crafts specially for depression or depression self-treatment. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is to find out if the crafts can be used as a self-treatment method in depression, based on the meanings told by the depressed. The research questions were that what role craft plays in the story of the interviewee´s depression and what well-being effects the interviewees feel they get from crafts and craft-communities. The thesis pursues a narrative approach. Research material collected by narrative interview from five craft-amateurs who has experienced depression. Material from the interviews were analysed with two approaches. As a result of the narrative analysis, the study created personal stories of the interviewees about the depression and the role of crafts in it. The analysis of narratives examined in more detailed way the similarities and differences between the interviewees´ narratives. These narratives were compared with recommendations on self-treatment for depression and the studies about the well-being effects of craft. In their stories, the interviewees described how crafts and craft-communities improve their well-being. This was very consistent with previous studies of the subject. Because of the de-pression, it was significant for the interviewees that the crafts increased their experiences of pleasure, usefulness and success. They also felt that the crafts gave them more strength and improved life management. For the interviewees´ crafts and craft-communities pro-duced similar welfare effects. Although they felt that from craft communities, they received also social relationships with peers. Interviewees didn´t use the term of self-treatment for de-pression when they described the well-being effects of crafts. Even though the interviewees express that the crafts help them manage and live with depression. Based on such results the crafts could be considered a suitable method as self-treatment for depression.

Objectives of the study Depression is one of the greatest factors to decrease the quality of life. However, its etiology has no clear scientific base. It has been thought that depression is a latent variable, but this view has been questioned. According to the network approach stressful life events are directly linked to depressive symptoms without a latent variable. Body image dissatisfaction is a more long-lasting and stable depressive symptom than the other symptoms. In addition, body image dissatisfaction predicts depression, but depression does not predict body image dissatisfaction. It is probable that body image dissatisfaction is linked to appearance. In this study I examine if different adverse effects of unattractive appearance are associated with body image dissatisfaction, when the level of depression is controlled. If this is true it would indicate that body image dissatisfaction cannot be explained by one-dimensional depression. In this study the adverse effects of unattractive appearance were low income level and living alone, which are both linked to unattractive appearance according to previous studies. Methods In this study there were 1638–2969 participants depending on the analysis. The Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study was used as the research material. Item response theory model and logistic regression were used to examine differential item functioning (DIF) in this study. DIF appears when an item of some latent variable has different scores in different groups even if the groups have the same score in the latent variable. Therefore I examined if equally depressed people do differ in body image dissatisfaction if they belong to the low income or living alone groups. Results and conclusions According to this study it is possible that depression is not a one-dimensional phenomenon. Low income level and living alone were inked to depressive symptoms and body image dissatisfaction. In addition, income level was associated differently to body image dissatisfaction than other depressive symptoms [χ² = 459.01, P < 0.001]. Living alone was not. Regardless, questioning the one-dimensionality of depression demands same kind of examination of other depressive symptoms in the future research.