Cargando…

Development and validation of a method to screen for co-morbid depression by non-behavioral health practitioners treating musculoskeletal pain

BACKGROUND: Although diagnosis and treatment of depressive illness is outside the scope of practice for non-behavioral health practitioners such as occupational therapists, physical therapists, kinesiotherapists, and chiropractors, it frequently is comorbid with painful musculoskeletal disorders suc...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Matheson, Leonard N., Verna, Joe, Saunders-Enright, Dawne, Gherscovici, Ezequiel, Kemp, Bryan, Mayer, John
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: IOS Press 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7683063/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32955474
http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/WOR-203252
_version_ 1783612797990469632
author Matheson, Leonard N.
Verna, Joe
Saunders-Enright, Dawne
Gherscovici, Ezequiel
Kemp, Bryan
Mayer, John
author_facet Matheson, Leonard N.
Verna, Joe
Saunders-Enright, Dawne
Gherscovici, Ezequiel
Kemp, Bryan
Mayer, John
author_sort Matheson, Leonard N.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Although diagnosis and treatment of depressive illness is outside the scope of practice for non-behavioral health practitioners such as occupational therapists, physical therapists, kinesiotherapists, and chiropractors, it frequently is comorbid with painful musculoskeletal disorders such as low back pain and it negatively affects outcomes, including return to work. As psychologically-informed practice becomes more widely implemented without the immediate availability of behavioral health practitioners, safe and effective methods to screen for and appropriately triage depressive illness by nonbehavioral health practitioners are necessary. OBJECTIVES: To demonstrate the efficacy and validity of a method employed by non-behavioral health practitioners to screen for and appropriately triage musculoskeletal pain patients who also are experiencing depressive illness. METHODS: As part of a previously-published psychometric research study conducted in a community-based musculoskeletal pain rehabilitation program, a method was developed for nonbehavioral health practitioners to screen for and appropriately triage patients for co-morbid depressive illness, thus providing the current opportunity to examine the effects of depressive illness on work outcomes. The first step in the two-step process involves a 22-item questionnaire, providing scores used in the second step to triage for outside consultation with behavioral health practitioners. This paper describes the screening method and its application in an observational study of the impact of depressive illness on work outcomes. RESULTS: Among 156 consecutive patients who were presenting with musculoskeletal pain disorders to an outpatient rehabilitation program, 22.3% also were identified to have co-morbid clinical depression. The screening process allowed all patients to continue in the rehabilitation program. Those who were already receiving behavioral health care were encouraged to inform care providers of their participation in the program. Those who were not receiving behavioral health care were successfully triaged to care outside of the clinic. Depressive illness was found to affect success in the program, confirming the validity of the screening process for outpatient rehabilitation program participants experiencing chronic pain. CONCLUSIONS: A simple and effective depression screening process that triages patients without interruption of musculoskeletal treatment can be employed by nonbehavioral health practitioners. Because return to work outcomes were found to be negatively affected by depressive illness, this approach has the potential to improve overall program efficacy.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7683063
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher IOS Press
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-76830632020-12-03 Development and validation of a method to screen for co-morbid depression by non-behavioral health practitioners treating musculoskeletal pain Matheson, Leonard N. Verna, Joe Saunders-Enright, Dawne Gherscovici, Ezequiel Kemp, Bryan Mayer, John Work Research Article BACKGROUND: Although diagnosis and treatment of depressive illness is outside the scope of practice for non-behavioral health practitioners such as occupational therapists, physical therapists, kinesiotherapists, and chiropractors, it frequently is comorbid with painful musculoskeletal disorders such as low back pain and it negatively affects outcomes, including return to work. As psychologically-informed practice becomes more widely implemented without the immediate availability of behavioral health practitioners, safe and effective methods to screen for and appropriately triage depressive illness by nonbehavioral health practitioners are necessary. OBJECTIVES: To demonstrate the efficacy and validity of a method employed by non-behavioral health practitioners to screen for and appropriately triage musculoskeletal pain patients who also are experiencing depressive illness. METHODS: As part of a previously-published psychometric research study conducted in a community-based musculoskeletal pain rehabilitation program, a method was developed for nonbehavioral health practitioners to screen for and appropriately triage patients for co-morbid depressive illness, thus providing the current opportunity to examine the effects of depressive illness on work outcomes. The first step in the two-step process involves a 22-item questionnaire, providing scores used in the second step to triage for outside consultation with behavioral health practitioners. This paper describes the screening method and its application in an observational study of the impact of depressive illness on work outcomes. RESULTS: Among 156 consecutive patients who were presenting with musculoskeletal pain disorders to an outpatient rehabilitation program, 22.3% also were identified to have co-morbid clinical depression. The screening process allowed all patients to continue in the rehabilitation program. Those who were already receiving behavioral health care were encouraged to inform care providers of their participation in the program. Those who were not receiving behavioral health care were successfully triaged to care outside of the clinic. Depressive illness was found to affect success in the program, confirming the validity of the screening process for outpatient rehabilitation program participants experiencing chronic pain. CONCLUSIONS: A simple and effective depression screening process that triages patients without interruption of musculoskeletal treatment can be employed by nonbehavioral health practitioners. Because return to work outcomes were found to be negatively affected by depressive illness, this approach has the potential to improve overall program efficacy. IOS Press 2020-10-20 /pmc/articles/PMC7683063/ /pubmed/32955474 http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/WOR-203252 Text en © 2020 – IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Matheson, Leonard N.
Verna, Joe
Saunders-Enright, Dawne
Gherscovici, Ezequiel
Kemp, Bryan
Mayer, John
Development and validation of a method to screen for co-morbid depression by non-behavioral health practitioners treating musculoskeletal pain
title Development and validation of a method to screen for co-morbid depression by non-behavioral health practitioners treating musculoskeletal pain
title_full Development and validation of a method to screen for co-morbid depression by non-behavioral health practitioners treating musculoskeletal pain
title_fullStr Development and validation of a method to screen for co-morbid depression by non-behavioral health practitioners treating musculoskeletal pain
title_full_unstemmed Development and validation of a method to screen for co-morbid depression by non-behavioral health practitioners treating musculoskeletal pain
title_short Development and validation of a method to screen for co-morbid depression by non-behavioral health practitioners treating musculoskeletal pain
title_sort development and validation of a method to screen for co-morbid depression by non-behavioral health practitioners treating musculoskeletal pain
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7683063/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32955474
http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/WOR-203252
work_keys_str_mv AT mathesonleonardn developmentandvalidationofamethodtoscreenforcomorbiddepressionbynonbehavioralhealthpractitionerstreatingmusculoskeletalpain
AT vernajoe developmentandvalidationofamethodtoscreenforcomorbiddepressionbynonbehavioralhealthpractitionerstreatingmusculoskeletalpain
AT saundersenrightdawne developmentandvalidationofamethodtoscreenforcomorbiddepressionbynonbehavioralhealthpractitionerstreatingmusculoskeletalpain
AT gherscoviciezequiel developmentandvalidationofamethodtoscreenforcomorbiddepressionbynonbehavioralhealthpractitionerstreatingmusculoskeletalpain
AT kempbryan developmentandvalidationofamethodtoscreenforcomorbiddepressionbynonbehavioralhealthpractitionerstreatingmusculoskeletalpain
AT mayerjohn developmentandvalidationofamethodtoscreenforcomorbiddepressionbynonbehavioralhealthpractitionerstreatingmusculoskeletalpain