Title

Reinvention of Depression Instruments by Primary Care Clinicians

Authors

Seong-Yi Baik, University of LouisvilleFollow
Junius Gonzales, Montclair State UniversityFollow
Barbara J. Bowers, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Jean S. Anthony, University of Cincinnati
Bas Tidjani, University of Dakar
Jeffrey L. Susman, University of Cincinnati

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2010

Journal / Book Title

Annals of Family Medicine

Abstract

PURPOSE Despite the sophisticated development of depression instruments during the past 4 decades, the critical topic of how primary care clinicians actually use those instruments in their day-to-day practice has not been investigated. We wanted to understand how primary care clinicians use depression instruments, for what purposes, and the conditions that influence their use.

METHODS Grounded theory method was used to guide data collection and analysis. We conducted 70 individual interviews and 3 focus groups (n = 24) with a purposeful sample of 70 primary care clinicians (family physicians, general internists, and nurse practitioners) from 52 offices. Investigators’ field notes on office practice environments complemented individual interviews.

RESULTS The clinicians described occasional use of depression instruments but reported they did not routinely use them to aid depression diagnosis or management; the clinicians reportedly used them primarily to enhance patients’ acceptance of the diagnosis when they anticipated or encountered resistance to the diagnosis. Three conditions promoted or reduced use of these instruments for different purposes: the extent of competing demands for the clinician’s time, the lack of objective evidence of depression, and the clinician’s familiarity with the patient. No differences among the 3 clinician groups were found for these 3 conditions.

CONCLUSIONS Depression instruments are reinvented by primary care clinicians in their real-world primary care practice. Although depression instruments were originally conceptualized for screening, diagnosing, or facilitating the management of depression, our study suggests that the real-world practice context influences their use to aid shared decision making—primarily to suggest, tell, or convince patients to accept the diagnosis of depression.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.1113

MSU Digital Commons Citation

Baik, Seong-Yi; Gonzales, Junius; Bowers, Barbara J.; Anthony, Jean S.; Tidjani, Bas; and Susman, Jeffrey L., "Reinvention of Depression Instruments by Primary Care Clinicians" (2010). Publications from Provost Junius J. Gonzales. 9.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/provost_publications/9

Published Citation

Baik, Seong-Yi, Junius J. Gonzales, Barbara J. Bowers, Jean S. Anthony, Bas Tidjani, and Jeffrey L. Susman. "Reinvention of depression instruments by primary care clinicians." The Annals of Family Medicine 8, no. 3 (2010): 224-230.