Impact of Treatment Information on Views of Treatment Options for Adults with Depression

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2021-05

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The Ohio State University

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Abstract

Understanding how people respond to information about treatment options is imperative for informing efforts to promote treatment initiation and adherence. The present study examines the impact of informational treatment videos on treatment naive participants' views of treatment credibility, expectations, and prognostic pessimism. U.S. adults (N = 300) with elevated depressive symptoms and no history of treatment for depression were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: (1) a video with information about cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT); (2) a video with information about antidepressant medication (ADM); (3) a video with information about the combination of ADM and CBT; and (4) a control group not shown a video. Primary outcome variables included participants' self-reported credibility, expectations, and prognostic pessimism measured before and after watching any video to which they were assigned. Compared to the control condition, videos describing either single treatment alone enhanced expectations and credibility for that treatment (with the exception of ADM expectations, which did not differ significantly). Those shown the CBT only video reported the most positive expectations and highest credibility for CBT. Those shown the ADM only video reported the most positive expectations and credibility for ADM. Those who viewed the combined treatment video did not differ from other conditions on any of the dependent variables (with the exception of a significant difference between CBT and combination conditions for expectations of CBT). There were no condition differences in prognostic pessimism. Future research could use informational videos to investigate the effects of other kinds of messaging on the variables examined in this study, as well as treatment seeking, adherence, and treatment outcomes.

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depression, treatment options, expectations, credibility, prognostic pessimism, preference

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