Telephone depression care management for Latino Medicaid health plan members: a pilot randomized controlled trial

Abstract

The objective of this pilot study was to provide a preliminary test of feasibility, acceptability, and efficacy of telephone depression care management among Latino Medicaid health plan members. Thirty-eight depressed primary care patients were enrolled in a pilot randomized trial of telephone depression care management + treatment as usual (TAU) versus TAU only. Bilingual care managers conducted care management for 3 months following an antidepressant prescription. For 1 year, research staff attempted to contact 929 potentially eligible members and enrolled 38. Qualitative analyses suggested that, of the participants we interviewed, most expressed satisfaction with the program. Participants suggested ways to improve recruitment, such as face-to-face contact. When compared with the group receiving TAU, there was a trend for the intervention group to experience less depression in time. This pilot study suggests that this program may be promising; however, there is need to investigate ways to better reach those who might find the program helpful.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00571454.