More than 15 million American adults seek treatment for depression each year. However, a first-of-its-kind study by researchers at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice reveals an eye-opening disconnect between the priorities of patients and clinicians when it comes to the information needed to make decisions about treatment options.
“The good news is that both patients and clinicians who treat depression consider whether a treatment will work to be the most important priority,” said Paul Barr, an assistant professor at The Dartmouth Institute and the study’s lead author. “However, while consumers place a high priority on cost and insurance information, clinicians do not always prioritize this as highly.”
The study, published online by BMJ Open, surveyed close to 1,000 Americans who were currently undergoing or have previously sought treatment for depression and 250 clinicians who had recently treated patients for depression in the United States. Patients were recruited to reflect the age, gender and education level of the population of U.S. adults suffering from depression. Clinicians surveyed had an average of 15 years of professional experience and included therapists, psychiatrists and primary care physicians.
In addition to whether a treatment would work, patients wanted to know about potential side effects, whether a treatment was covered by insurance, how long before it took effect and how much it would cost. Clinicians were asked to rank their information priorities about a potential treatment from their professional perspective as a clinician as well as to identify what they believed their patients would consider most important when making a treatment decision.
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