The effects of treatment as usual versus a computerized clinical decision aid on shared decision-making in the treatment of psychotic disorders

Background and objectives People with psychotic disorders can experience a lack of active involvement in their decisional process. Clinical decision aids are shared decision-making tools which are currently rarely used in mental healthcare. We examined the effects of Treatment E-Assist (TREAT), a computerized clinical decision aid in psychosis care, on shared decision-making and satisfaction with consultations as assessed by patients. Methods A total of 187 patients with a psychotic disorder participated. They received either treatment as usual in the first phase (TAU1), TREAT in the second phase or treatment as usual in the third phase of the trial (TAU2). The Decisional Conflict Scale was used as primary outcome measure for shared decision-making and patient satisfaction as secondary outcome. Results A linear mixed model analysis found no significant effects between TAU 1 (β = −0.54, SE = 2.01, p = 0.80) and TAU 2 (β = −1.66, SE = 2.63, p = 0.53) compared to TREAT on shared decision-making. High patient rated satisfaction with the consultations was found with no significant differences between TAU 1 (β = 1.48, SE = 1.14, p = 0.20) and TAU 2 (β = 2.26, SE = 1.33, p = 0.09) compared to TREAT. Conclusion We expected TREAT to enhance shared decision-making without decreasing satisfaction with consultations. However, no significant differences on shared decision-making or satisfaction with consultations were found. Our findings suggest that TREAT is safe to implement in psychosis care, but more research is needed to fully understand its effects on the decisional process. (AU)

[Decision aid for the treatment of psychotic illness: development of TReatment E-AssisT (TREAT)]. / Beslistool bij de behandeling van psycho-tische aandoeningen: de ontwikkeling van TReatment E-AssisT (TREAT).

BACKGROUND: Use of decision aids in mental health care is increasing and will also be introduced in the Dutch mental healthcare system. We describe the context of this development and discuss how decision aids could facilitate evidence-based psychiatry.
AIM: To describe the development of the decision aid TReatment E-Assist (TREAT) in the Dutch mental healthcare system that aims to optimize treatment of people with a psychotic illness.
METHOD: We describe how the TREAT application works and discuss its potential contribution to the treatment of people with a psychotic illness.
RESULTS: In a pilot study TREAT was judged as user friendly and useful. TREAT seemed to increase the integration of ROM-results in treatment and the advice offered new view points for practioners.
CONCLUSION: TREAT is a novel application which combines routine outcome monitoring results with current treatment guidelines and standards of care in order to generate personalised treatment recommendations in the context of a psychiatric treatment trajectory. A multicentre study is being conducted in different provinces in the Netherlands to investigate the effectiveness of TREAT.