The National Institutes of Health grants total nearly $3 million, according to an IU press release.
Measurement-based care such as a nine-question survey that asks clients to identify on a zero-to-three scale the severity of nine specific symptoms of depression have already been shown to improve treatment by highlighting ongoing treatment goals.
In an opinion editorial for IU Newsroom, Lewis writes of how mental health should be taken as seriously as a doctor giving a standard blood pressure screening to diagnose and help prevent hypertension.
Lewis seeks to reverse the trend that it currently takes 17 years for 14 percent of clinical research to reach health care consumers, according to the release.
“Depression, another silent killer, affects over 400 million people around the globe every year, yet it is equally detectable and treatable,” Lewis wrote in the op-ed. “So why is it that we do not use the blood pressure cuff equivalent to assess your mental health vital signs?”
$1.79 million of the award will go toward a comparison between two methods for integrating measurement-based care for depression into the routines of community mental health clinics, according to the release. Evidence-based care has the potential of reducing symptom deterioration and engaging clients who might not respond to treatment otherwise.
The second grant is worth $1.16 million and will assist the second study in measuring the readiness for change in the way mental health clinics approach mental health care. It takes a broader view of implementing the process by asking community stakeholders such as agency administrators which evidence based-care features are necessary to put evidence-based practices to use, according to the release.
Bailey Moser
