Administration of a Male-Specific Depression Screener during Rural Primary Care Clinic Visits to Improve Screening Rates data set

Description

This study aimed to assess whether the rates of depression screening in men can be increased by implementing the Male Depression Risk Scale-22 (MDRS-22) within the Integrated Screening Action Model (I-SAM) framework. Background Men are diagnosed with depression at half the rate of women but die from suicide four times more often. Healthcare clinics with as-needed depression screening only, which is not specifically designed for male patients, could be missing depression diagnoses or high risks in males. Methods MDRS-22 screening was offered to 132 undiagnosed men between the ages of 18 and 60 years who were not on Medicare, during routine visits to a rural primary care site, where screening for depression was not offered to all patients. The researchers compared the depression screening rates from the study period (September 1 to December 31, 2023) with the rates from the previous year during the same period using the site’s Electronic Medical Records. Results Fifty of the 132 qualified men were willing to undergo the screening. During the same time frame in the previous year, there were 175 similar qualified males presented for visits with no evidence of any depression screening. Thus, depression screening for qualifying patients compared to the prior year increased from zero to 38%. Six percent of the screened patients were at high and 4% were at extreme risk for depression. Conclusion Implementation of screening with the I-SAM framework increased the rate of depression screening in men and identified individuals with high or extreme risk for depression. The rate of screening for depression can be improved by offering the screenings during typical provider visits. Adhering to screening recommendations for depression can allow patients to have providers specifically assess mental health instead of focusing only on physical complaints. Physician visits that addressed mental health issues increased from 10.7% of visits in 2006-2007 to 15.9% by 2016 and 2018 (Rotenstein et al., 2023), but further improvements may be needed.

Institutions

• Georgia Southern University

  GA, Statesboro

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