Telemedicine helps overcome obstacles to care for vets with depression

Older veterans face a number of obstacles in accessing care for depression, often including limited mobility, stigma associated with seeking treatment for depression and distance to facilities. Telemedicine can offer hope, though, and a team of researchers conducted a study of behavioral activation therapy for depression to compare in-person visits with physicians with those conducted remotely.

The study, published in The Lancet—Psychiatry, included 780 veterans over the age of 58 with major depressive disorder. Led by professor Leonard Egede, MD, MS, with the Medical University of South Carolina, the study separated individuals  into a telemedicine group and same-room treatment group with each group receiving eight session of behavioral activation for depression

Treatment, given from April 1, 2007, to July 31, 2011, showed that the telemedicine group did not significantly differ from the in-person group, pointing to the conclusion that receiving care through remotely is as effective as care in the same room. Home-based telemedicine can help overcome distance and mobility issues.

“Telemedicine-delivered psychotherapy for older adults with major depression is not inferior to same-room treatment,” Egede et al. wrote. “This finding shows that evidence-based psychotherapy can be delivered, without modification, via home-based telemedicine, and that this method can be used to overcome barriers to care associated with distance from and difficulty with attendance at in-person sessions in older adults.”