Computer interviews for depression management.
Depression is underrecognized, underdiagnosed, and undertreated, with resultant increases in unnecessary suffering, morbidity, and mortality. A decade of admonitions to practitioners to improve our practices has made little impact on these recognized deficiencies. Screening, diagnosis and monitoring for depression, education about depression, and even self-help treatments for depression can all be improved by using direct patient-computer interviews. Computer interviews gather information from patients and give information to them, complementing, supplementing, and reinforcing clinician functioning. Available computer programs can help us reduce the gap between what is possible and what is practiced-a laudable goal.
Greist
J H
JH
Healthcare Technology Systems, The Madison Institute of Medicine, and the Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin 53717, USA.
D000818:Animals; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000295:instrumentation; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D012648:Self Care; D013813:Therapy, Computer-Assisted; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014584:User-Computer Interface