Loading...
Organized depression-care programs have not been routinely implemented because of logistical and cost concerns. These researchers evaluated the acceptability and effectiveness of asynchronous online messaging as a tool for care management of depressed patients in a multisite health maintenance organization (HMO).
The participants were 208 depressed primary-care patients who had registered to use the HMO's patient website and who had received a new antidepressant prescription. They were randomized to receive usual care alone or with three online care management contacts made during 10 weeks by a trained psychiatric nurse. The contacts involved the nurse's outreach, patients' completion of online structured assessments of adverse effects and s…