Patients diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) may have complex treatment plans that require actions between visits with their primary care clinicians. Primary care clinicians play an important role in working with patients in a shared decision making (SDM) process to set goals for each patient’s treatment and care and in supporting patients in adhering to their treatment goals. Software applications (apps), particularly those accessible on mobile devices, may be effective tools for use in the primary care setting with MDD patients. The Fora Health app has been developed to support patients and clinicians in developing goals for treatment of MDD, to help patients monitor their adherence to treatment and therapy goals, and to provide data to clinicians for evaluation of adherence to treatment and need for reevaluation of treatment strategies.
In collaboration with Ctrl Group, the American Academy of Family Physicians National Research Network is implementing a project to provide information for further development of patient and clinician informed content of the Fora Health app and testing the app in clinical settings. This study explores the benefits of an app-based SDM and goal setting tool on care and management of MDD patients in primary care. We anticipate that this work will yield an enhanced tool ready for adoption by primary care clinicians and patients with MDD.
The overall goal of the project is to support primary care clinicians and patients with MDD in engaging in shared decision making, goal setting, and monitoring to ultimately improve health and wellbeing of the patient with MDD.
This is a mixed methods study.
This project is from April 2019 - December 2021.
Ongoing (no longer recruiting).
Check back later for key findings.
For additional information about this study, please contact:
Angie Lanigan, MPA, RDN, LD
Senior Research Project Manager
AAFP National Research Network
alanigan@aafp.org
This study is funded by Takeda.