Understanding Depression Treatment Options Considering Average Health Literacy

Individuals with limited mental health literacy have greater difficulty in multiple areas including: managing chronic conditions, obtaining health information, adhering to medication regiments, and communicating with providers. Research shows that a large percentage of patients who do end up getting treatment for depression are not educated about all their medication and therapy options. The purpose of this study was to create educational material for providers to use with patients that illustrates the most current evidenced-based recommended treatment options for depression. This was a quality improvement project with a literature review of mental health literacy and evidenced based depression treatment. The setting was an urban based hospital where an educational poster was created at a sixth-grade literacy level and posted in the hallways and lobby of the outpatient mental health building. An educational presentation was given to 30 treatment providers, followed by requesting providers complete a questionnaire that was handed out to assess knowledge and confidence on the content of the presentation. A comparison of the pre and post test scores showed that prescribers felt health literacy was a valid concern when speaking with patients at p ≤ 0.05. This quality improvement project demonstrates an educational intervention positively affected provider attitudes on health literacy for patients regarding depression treatment options. Providing education that improves provider attitudes towards communicating with patients at adequate health literacy levels can improve the access patients have to receiving and understanding depression treatment options.