Depression care for people with cancer: a collaborative care intervention

Depression management for patients with chronic medical illnesses, including cancer, is often inadequate. “Depression Care for People with Cancer” (DCPC) has been designed to be integrated into specialist cancer services and is being evaluated in the Symptom Management Research Trials (SMaRT) Oncology series of randomized controlled trials. The intervention is an extended form of the collaborative care model and is delivered by a care manager, who receives regular supervision from a psychiatrist. The care manager coordinates the patient's depression management, by liaising with both their primary care physician and their cancer team, and provides a brief talking treatment. This article describes the design and delivery of DCPC as given in the SMaRT Oncology trials.