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Abstract

Objective:

This study tested whether computerized cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression supported by a peer specialist with lived experience of depression (PS-cCBT) improves mental health–related outcomes for primary care patients.

Methods:

In the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, primary care patients with a new diagnosis of depression (N=330) were randomly assigned to 3 months of PS-cCBT or a usual-care control condition. Linear mixed-effects models were used to assess differences in depression symptoms, general mental health status, quality of life, and mental health recovery measured at baseline and 3 and 6 months.

Results:

In adjusted analyses, participants who received PS-cCBT experienced 1.4 points’ (95% confidence interval [CI]=0.3–2.5, p=0.01) greater improvement in depression symptoms on the Quick Inventory of Depression Symptomatology–Self Report at 3 months, compared with the control group, but no significant difference was noted at 6 months. PS-cCBT recipients also had 2.6 points’ (95% CI=0.5–4.8, p=0.02) greater improvement in quality of life at 3 months on the Quality of Life Enjoyment and Satisfaction Questionnaire Short Form and greater improvement in recovery on the Recovery Assessment Scale at 3 months (3.6 points; 95% CI=0.9–6.2, p=0.01) and 6 months (4.5 points; 95% CI=1.2–7.7, p=0.01).

Conclusions:

PS-cCBT is an effective option for improving short-term depression symptoms and longer-term recovery among primary care patients newly diagnosed as having depression.

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Psychiatric Services
Go to Psychiatric Services
Psychiatric Services
Pages: 256 - 262
PubMed: 31931686

History

Received: 3 June 2019
Revision received: 7 August 2019
Accepted: 6 September 2019
Published online: 14 January 2020
Published in print: March 01, 2020

Keywords

  1. Depression
  2. Cognitive therapy

Authors

Details

Paul N. Pfeiffer, M.D. [email protected]
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Ganoczy, Kim, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Abraham, Valenstein); Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Valenstein); Battle Creek VA Medical Center, Battle Creek, Michigan (Pope, Houck); John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, Detroit (Benn-Burton); Consulting for Statistics, Computing and Analytics Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Kim); Department of Psychology, University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit (Abraham).
Brooke Pope, Ph.D.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Ganoczy, Kim, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Abraham, Valenstein); Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Valenstein); Battle Creek VA Medical Center, Battle Creek, Michigan (Pope, Houck); John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, Detroit (Benn-Burton); Consulting for Statistics, Computing and Analytics Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Kim); Department of Psychology, University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit (Abraham).
Marc Houck, Psy.D.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Ganoczy, Kim, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Abraham, Valenstein); Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Valenstein); Battle Creek VA Medical Center, Battle Creek, Michigan (Pope, Houck); John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, Detroit (Benn-Burton); Consulting for Statistics, Computing and Analytics Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Kim); Department of Psychology, University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit (Abraham).
Wendy Benn-Burton, Ph.D.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Ganoczy, Kim, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Abraham, Valenstein); Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Valenstein); Battle Creek VA Medical Center, Battle Creek, Michigan (Pope, Houck); John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, Detroit (Benn-Burton); Consulting for Statistics, Computing and Analytics Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Kim); Department of Psychology, University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit (Abraham).
Kara Zivin, Ph.D.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Ganoczy, Kim, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Abraham, Valenstein); Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Valenstein); Battle Creek VA Medical Center, Battle Creek, Michigan (Pope, Houck); John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, Detroit (Benn-Burton); Consulting for Statistics, Computing and Analytics Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Kim); Department of Psychology, University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit (Abraham).
Dara Ganoczy, M.P.H.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Ganoczy, Kim, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Abraham, Valenstein); Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Valenstein); Battle Creek VA Medical Center, Battle Creek, Michigan (Pope, Houck); John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, Detroit (Benn-Burton); Consulting for Statistics, Computing and Analytics Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Kim); Department of Psychology, University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit (Abraham).
H. Myra Kim, Sc.D.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Ganoczy, Kim, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Abraham, Valenstein); Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Valenstein); Battle Creek VA Medical Center, Battle Creek, Michigan (Pope, Houck); John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, Detroit (Benn-Burton); Consulting for Statistics, Computing and Analytics Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Kim); Department of Psychology, University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit (Abraham).
Heather Walters, M.A.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Ganoczy, Kim, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Abraham, Valenstein); Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Valenstein); Battle Creek VA Medical Center, Battle Creek, Michigan (Pope, Houck); John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, Detroit (Benn-Burton); Consulting for Statistics, Computing and Analytics Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Kim); Department of Psychology, University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit (Abraham).
Lauren Emerson, M.A.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Ganoczy, Kim, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Abraham, Valenstein); Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Valenstein); Battle Creek VA Medical Center, Battle Creek, Michigan (Pope, Houck); John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, Detroit (Benn-Burton); Consulting for Statistics, Computing and Analytics Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Kim); Department of Psychology, University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit (Abraham).
C. Beau Nelson, Ph.D.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Ganoczy, Kim, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Abraham, Valenstein); Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Valenstein); Battle Creek VA Medical Center, Battle Creek, Michigan (Pope, Houck); John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, Detroit (Benn-Burton); Consulting for Statistics, Computing and Analytics Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Kim); Department of Psychology, University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit (Abraham).
Kristen M. Abraham, Ph.D.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Ganoczy, Kim, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Abraham, Valenstein); Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Valenstein); Battle Creek VA Medical Center, Battle Creek, Michigan (Pope, Houck); John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, Detroit (Benn-Burton); Consulting for Statistics, Computing and Analytics Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Kim); Department of Psychology, University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit (Abraham).
Marcia Valenstein, M.D.
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Ann Arbor Healthcare System, Ann Arbor, Michigan (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Ganoczy, Kim, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Abraham, Valenstein); Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor (Pfeiffer, Zivin, Walters, Emerson, Nelson, Valenstein); Battle Creek VA Medical Center, Battle Creek, Michigan (Pope, Houck); John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, Detroit (Benn-Burton); Consulting for Statistics, Computing and Analytics Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Kim); Department of Psychology, University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit (Abraham).

Notes

Send correspondence to Dr. Pfeiffer ([email protected]).

Competing Interests

The authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

Funding Information

This work was supported by VA Health Services Research and Development grant IIR-13-310. The study is registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT02057042).

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