Participant, Reviewing the Effectiveness of Talk Therapy for Depression or Anxiety

The Ministry of Health is looking for patients to participate in an assessment of the effectiveness of talk therapy for depression and anxiety. We need your help to ensure this assessment reflects the patient experience and perspective!

Open to: Patient partners across the province

Lead Organization or Department

Ministry of Mental Health & Addictions and the Ministry of Health

Aim

The BC Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Committee is currently doing a review of talk therapy (psychotherapy) for depression and anxiety. The purpose of this review is to report on the clinical effectiveness, health professional and patient perspectives, cost-effectiveness (comparing the relative cost to benefits gained from talk therapy), and budget impact of providing psychotherapy publicly in BC. The HTA team is very interested in hearing about the patient experience with psychotherapy (talk therapy); such as how it impacts quality of life, general experiences, social interactions, or any other factors related to the patient experience.

Level of Engagement

This opportunity is at the level of involve on the spectrum of engagement. The promise to you is that the health care partner will involve patients in planning and design phases to ensure ideas or concerns are considered and reflected in alternatives and recommendations.

Eligibility

• Must be a resident of BC
• We are looking for patient partners who have either self-identified or were identified by health care provider as struggling with anxiety or depression that the patient partner sought any form of talk therapy. For example, the talk therapy could have been provided over the phone, in person or over the internet.
• Comfortable with sharing their experiences with talk therapy for anxiety or depression
• Access to a phone which can receive incoming calls within BC without any additional fees

If you have a strong interest in this work but have not yet completed a PVN orientation and volunteer agreement, are unsure if your experience is a good fit or feel another format of engagement would work better with your availability, please contact the engagement leader directly.

Logistics

• Vacancies: 30
• Frequency: One time only

Format Telephone interviews: o Patient partners from across the province are invited to participate in a telephone interview. o We have a very flexible schedule, and most interviews are done over via phone. We usually work Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm; however, we are more than willing to accommodate for a time outside these hours to conduct the short phone interview. o The interviews are typically around 1 hour, and the interview questions and supplemental material about health technology assessments can certainly be provided to patients in advance upon request. Focus group: o Patient partners in the Lower Mainland are invited to attend a 1 hour focus group if they prefer this format. The patient partner will be given a choice between the interview or focus group. o The meeting will be held at the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Evaluation, at the Vancouver General Hospital Research Pavilion (828 West 10th Avenue). o The time of the focus group will be booked during the work week (flexibility for daytime/evening) at a time determined by participants’ availability.

Reimbursement

No expenses are anticipated for interview participation. For patient partners attending the in-person focus group, the health care partner will provide $20.00 cover your transportation costs.

Background

The Health Technology Assessment Committee (HTAC) leads a joint Ministry of Health and health authority process used to make evidence-informed recommendations about the public provision of non-drug health technologies based on health technology assessments (HTAs). The topic of talk therapy for depression and anxiety was nominated to HTAC by Vancouver Coastal Health for assessment and consideration of public provision. In prioritizing this topic, HTAC accounted for the gap in mental health care that exists for people with mild-to-moderate depression or anxiety and the inequitable access to psychotherapies (talk therapy) across BC. Improving mental health services is also both a provincial and federal government priority. The Health Technology Assessment Committee makes recommendation on the use of health technologies and services in BC. Health technology assessments are reports that include a comprehensive review of the existing clinical evidence, input from both health professionals and patients, and a BC-specific cost-effectiveness analysis and budget impact assessment. There is no risk to the patient partner. All information provided is confidential. The session will not be recorded. The information in the report will be anonymized with no personally identifiable information included and written down in a summary fashion. Once the report has been completed, any personal information collected will be destroyed.  

Health Care Partner Contact Information

Kathryn Proudfoot
Engagement Leader, Patient & Public Engagement | Provincial
604.668.8246
kproudfoot@bcpsqc.ca