Measurement-Based Care for Depression: Personalized Management Approaches for Optimized Treatment Outcomes

Abstract

Use of measurement-based care (MBC) in depression includes the systematic administration of validated clinical measurement tools to guide the screening, assessment, treatment, and monitoring of clinical outcomes in patients with depression. In clinical practice, MBC can be used to screen for and assess severity of depressive symptoms, and guide treatment selection and change in type of treatment when clinical improvement is insufficient. In addition to identifying depressive symptoms, MBC can also help detect co-existing psychiatric conditions to inform more precise treatment selection. Furthermore, the MBC approach entails regular assessments of symptom severity, adherence, and side effects, which facilitates timely and vigorous dose adjustments of antidepressants to improve clinical outcomes. MBC can also be used to monitor specific symptoms that are associated with poor depression outcomes to allow acute-phase prognostication of treatment outcomes. The authors conclude that the MBC approach has many evidence-based benefits compared to the usual care and should be incorporated into the clinical care of patients with depression. [ Psychiatr Ann. 2023;53(9):395–399.]