Pilot project for doctors helps patients with depression, N.S. researcher says

A pilot project aimed at teaching family doctors and their staff how to treat patients with depression and anxiety led to improvements in those patients without relying as much on drugs, the primary researcher says.

The training, designed in British Columbia, was aimed at all members of a front-line medical team, including physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, and medical office assistants. It took place in Nova Scotia over a five-month period in 2014.

The training focused on screening and diagnosis, as well as management of mild to moderate depression and anxiety disorders.

There were three half-day sessions in total, and each was followed by a month or more, during which time the participants could practise incorporating what they'd learned into their work.

The training also involved contact with real patients, who shared their personal experience with mental illness, and their recovery.

Empowering family doctors

Family physician and psychiatrist with Dalhousie University's school of medicine, Bianca Lauria-Horner, led the study which measured the effectiveness of the training.

She told CBC's Information Morningthat programs like this are important for family doctors in particular, who often refer patients with mental health disorders to specialists, instead of dealing with it themselves.

"As a family physician myself, it's not that you don't want to get involved in the management of mental illness," she said, "but sometimes you just are not comfortable with what to do if stuff comes out."

This type of program will allow more patients to remain in the care of somebody they're comfortable with, she said.

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Patients improved without drugs

Lauria-Horner said researchers measured thesuccess of the program by surveying two groups of patients:those whose primary care providers completed the program, and a second group who were not involved.

Patients in both groups improved within the first three months, she said. But during the next three months, only those patients with doctors who had completed the program showed improvements.

"In the control group, they started regressing," Lauria-Horner said. "They actually deteriorated a little bit."

She said patients whose doctors were in the pilot project also improved without relying as much on medication. Instead, Lauria-Horner said they learned coping strategies, and other tools for managing the disease on their own.

Moving beyond the pilot project

Health care providers who completed the program also showed a "significant improvement in attitudes, in stigma," Lauria-Horner said. Their confidence also improved when it came to diagnosis and management, she said.

Lauria-Horner said she and her fellow researchers are currently presenting the evidence to various groups of health care professionals in the province, in the hopes of supporting the implementation of the project beyond the pilot stage.

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