Investigation of consumer satisfaction with cognitive-behaviour therapy and sertraline in the treatment of adolescent depression.
OBJECTIVE
A new instrument, the Adolescent Depression Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire (ADTSQ) was devised to measure the consumer satisfaction of depressed adolescents and their parents. The objectives of the paper were to present the psychometric properties of the ADTSQ and to investigate the relative consumer satisfaction with cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), sertraline (SRT) and a combined treatment of CBT and SRT (COMBINED) for the treatment of adolescent depression. In addition, participants were asked to rank their most preferred treatment from the following approaches: medication, individual counselling, group program and family therapy.


METHODS
Thirty-eight adolescents with a unipolar depressive disorder and 37 parents who participated in a randomized clinical trial of CBT versus SRT versus COMBINED completed the ADTSQ following the completion of acute treatment.


RESULTS
The ADTSQ was found to have high internal consistency and exploratory factor analysis detected three underlying factors. High levels of consumer satisfaction were reported by both adolescents and parents in all three treatments. Those treated with CBT treatments reported higher levels of skill acquisition than those treated with SRT. Of the four treatment approaches, most parents and adolescents rated individual counselling as their first preference.


CONCLUSIONS
The ADTSQ is a useful measure of consumer satisfaction for depressed adolescents and their parents. CBT, SRT and COMBINED were shown to have high consumer satisfaction with CBT's higher skills training content reflected in the participants' reports. Individual counselling was perceived as the most favourable choice of treatment for adolescent depression. Although limitations associated with the measurement of consumer satisfaction and of the study are acknowledged, it is recommended that the inclusion of consumer satisfaction measures be considered in clinical trials that examine treatment efficacy.
Dudley
Amanda L
AL
Centre for Developmental Psychiatry and Psychology, 246 Clayton Road, Clayton, Victoria 3168, Australia. amanda.dudley@med.monash.edu.au
Melvin
Glenn A
GA
Williams
Nicola J
NJ
Tonge
Bruce J
BJ
King
Neville J
NJ
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D010290:Parents; D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D020280:Sertraline / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D017367:Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors; D020280:Sertraline