The assessment of depressive patients’ involvement in decision making in audio-taped primary care consultations

ObjectiveIn primary care of depression treatment options such as antidepressants, counseling and psychotherapy are reasonable. Patient involvement could foster adherence and clinical outcome. However, there is a lack of empirical information about the extent to which general practitioners involve patients in decision making processes in this condition, and about the consultation time spent for distinct decision making tasks.MethodsTwenty general practice consultations with depressive patients prior to a treatment decision were audio-taped and transcribed. Patient involvement in decision making was assessed with the OPTION-scale and durations of decision making stages were measured.ResultsMean duration of consultations was 16 min, 6 s. The mean of the OPTION-items were between 0.0 and 26.9, in a scale range from 0 to 100. Overall, 78.6% of the consultation time was spent for the step “problem definition” (12 min, 42 s).ConclusionVery low levels of patient involvement in medical decisions were observed in consultations about depression. Physicians used the majority of their time for the definition of the patient's medical problem.Practice ImplicationsTo improve treatment decision making in this condition, general practitioners should enhance their decision making competences and be more aware of the time spent in each decision making stage.