Feasibility of an eHealth Service to Support Collaborative Depression Care: Results of a Pilot Study

Background Treatments and organizational changes supported by eHealth are beginning to play an important role in improving disease treatment outcome and providing cost-efficient care management. “Improvehealth.eu” is a novel eHealth service to support the treatment of patients with depressive disord...

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Main Authors: Meglic, Matic, Furlan, Mirjana, Kuzmanic, Marja, Kozel, Dejan, Baraga, Dusan, Kuhar, Irma, Kosir, Branko, Iljaz, Rade, Novak Sarotar, Brigita, Dernovsek, Mojca Zvezdana, Marusic, Andrej, Eysenbach, Gunther, Brodnik, Andrej
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: JMIR Publications 2010-12-01
Series:Journal of Medical Internet Research
Online Access:http://www.jmir.org/2010/5/e63/
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author Meglic, Matic
Furlan, Mirjana
Kuzmanic, Marja
Kozel, Dejan
Baraga, Dusan
Kuhar, Irma
Kosir, Branko
Iljaz, Rade
Novak Sarotar, Brigita
Dernovsek, Mojca Zvezdana
Marusic, Andrej
Eysenbach, Gunther
Brodnik, Andrej
author_facet Meglic, Matic
Furlan, Mirjana
Kuzmanic, Marja
Kozel, Dejan
Baraga, Dusan
Kuhar, Irma
Kosir, Branko
Iljaz, Rade
Novak Sarotar, Brigita
Dernovsek, Mojca Zvezdana
Marusic, Andrej
Eysenbach, Gunther
Brodnik, Andrej
author_sort Meglic, Matic
collection DOAJ
description Background Treatments and organizational changes supported by eHealth are beginning to play an important role in improving disease treatment outcome and providing cost-efficient care management. “Improvehealth.eu” is a novel eHealth service to support the treatment of patients with depressive disorder. It offers active patient engagement and collaborative care management by combining Web- and mobile-based information and communication technology systems and access to care managers. Objectives Our objective was to assess the feasibility of a novel eHealth service. Methods The intervention—the “Improvehealth.eu” service—was explored in the course of a pilot study comparing two groups of patients receiving treatment as usual and treatment as usual with eHealth intervention. We compared patients’ medication adherence and outcome measures between both groups and additionally explored usage and overall perceptions of the intervention in intervention group. Results The intervention was successfully implemented in a pilot with 46 patients, of whom 40 were female. Of the 46 patients, 25 received treatment as usual, and 21 received the intervention in addition to treatment as usual. A total of 55% (12/25) of patients in the former group and 45% (10/21) in the latter group finished the 6-month pilot. Available case analysis indicated an improvement of adherence in the intervention group (odds ratio [OR] = 10.0, P = .03). Intention-to-treat analysis indicated an improvement of outcome in the intervention group (ORs ranging from 0.35 to 18; P values ranging from .003 to .20), but confidence intervals were large due to small sample sizes. Average duration of use of the intervention was 107 days. The intervention was well received by 81% (17/21) of patients who reported feeling actively engaged, in control of their disease, and that they had access to a high level of information. In all, 33% (7/21) of the patients also described drawbacks of the intervention, mostly related to usability issues. Conclusions The results of this pilot study indicate that the intervention was well accepted and helped the patients in the course of treatment. The results also suggest the potential of the intervention to improve both medication adherence and outcome measures of treatment, including reduction of depression severity and patients becoming “healthy.”
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spelling doaj.art-3803c8265ad44e7086b2f60532065efb2022-12-21T20:15:23ZengJMIR PublicationsJournal of Medical Internet Research1438-88712010-12-01125e6310.2196/jmir.1510Feasibility of an eHealth Service to Support Collaborative Depression Care: Results of a Pilot StudyMeglic, MaticFurlan, MirjanaKuzmanic, MarjaKozel, DejanBaraga, DusanKuhar, IrmaKosir, BrankoIljaz, RadeNovak Sarotar, BrigitaDernovsek, Mojca ZvezdanaMarusic, AndrejEysenbach, GuntherBrodnik, AndrejBackground Treatments and organizational changes supported by eHealth are beginning to play an important role in improving disease treatment outcome and providing cost-efficient care management. “Improvehealth.eu” is a novel eHealth service to support the treatment of patients with depressive disorder. It offers active patient engagement and collaborative care management by combining Web- and mobile-based information and communication technology systems and access to care managers. Objectives Our objective was to assess the feasibility of a novel eHealth service. Methods The intervention—the “Improvehealth.eu” service—was explored in the course of a pilot study comparing two groups of patients receiving treatment as usual and treatment as usual with eHealth intervention. We compared patients’ medication adherence and outcome measures between both groups and additionally explored usage and overall perceptions of the intervention in intervention group. Results The intervention was successfully implemented in a pilot with 46 patients, of whom 40 were female. Of the 46 patients, 25 received treatment as usual, and 21 received the intervention in addition to treatment as usual. A total of 55% (12/25) of patients in the former group and 45% (10/21) in the latter group finished the 6-month pilot. Available case analysis indicated an improvement of adherence in the intervention group (odds ratio [OR] = 10.0, P = .03). Intention-to-treat analysis indicated an improvement of outcome in the intervention group (ORs ranging from 0.35 to 18; P values ranging from .003 to .20), but confidence intervals were large due to small sample sizes. Average duration of use of the intervention was 107 days. The intervention was well received by 81% (17/21) of patients who reported feeling actively engaged, in control of their disease, and that they had access to a high level of information. In all, 33% (7/21) of the patients also described drawbacks of the intervention, mostly related to usability issues. Conclusions The results of this pilot study indicate that the intervention was well accepted and helped the patients in the course of treatment. The results also suggest the potential of the intervention to improve both medication adherence and outcome measures of treatment, including reduction of depression severity and patients becoming “healthy.”http://www.jmir.org/2010/5/e63/
spellingShingle Meglic, Matic
Furlan, Mirjana
Kuzmanic, Marja
Kozel, Dejan
Baraga, Dusan
Kuhar, Irma
Kosir, Branko
Iljaz, Rade
Novak Sarotar, Brigita
Dernovsek, Mojca Zvezdana
Marusic, Andrej
Eysenbach, Gunther
Brodnik, Andrej
Feasibility of an eHealth Service to Support Collaborative Depression Care: Results of a Pilot Study
Journal of Medical Internet Research
title Feasibility of an eHealth Service to Support Collaborative Depression Care: Results of a Pilot Study
title_full Feasibility of an eHealth Service to Support Collaborative Depression Care: Results of a Pilot Study
title_fullStr Feasibility of an eHealth Service to Support Collaborative Depression Care: Results of a Pilot Study
title_full_unstemmed Feasibility of an eHealth Service to Support Collaborative Depression Care: Results of a Pilot Study
title_short Feasibility of an eHealth Service to Support Collaborative Depression Care: Results of a Pilot Study
title_sort feasibility of an ehealth service to support collaborative depression care results of a pilot study
url http://www.jmir.org/2010/5/e63/
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