| Interactive Telephone System to Identify and Treat Depression
Who is the intervention targeting?
African American and Latino patients with cancer
What intervention is being evaluated?
Patients will receive computer-generated calls on a weekly basis for four months. The Interactive Voice Response system will regularly monitor patients’ depression symptoms, alert providers when a patient’s reported level of distress reaches a designated threshold, and prompt providers to follow clinical practice guidelines in response to reported depression symptoms.
Where is this intervention taking place?
Oncology clinics where low-income uninsured or underinsured patients receive their medical care in the Houston-Harris County area.
Partnering Organizations
The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center
Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital
Harris County Hospital District
Why might this approach work?
A large percentage of cancer patients will develop clinical depression. However, due to a variety of factors, depression is often under diagnosed and under treated in this patient population. This intervention incorporates a standardized screening and monitoring protocol into existing clinical infrastructure.
How will this intervention be evaluated?
A randomized clinical trial is being conducted to determine if the intervention leads to improved identification and treatment of depression. Patient level outcome measures include:
Feedback about the intervention from both providers and patients will be collected to inform further development. The costs of the intervention will be determined in order to evaluate the feasibility of maintaining the intervention at the evaluation site and the possibility of expanding it to other public hospital or clinic settings.
Principal Investigators:
Karen O. Anderson, PhD, MPH
Guadalupe Palos, RN, LMSW, DrPH
For More Information
Please Contact:
Karen O. Anderson, PhD, MPH
koanderso@mdanderson.org
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