App Assisted Depression Self-Management in Integrated Primary Care: A Pilot Study Exploring Patient and Provider Experiences

The integrated primary care (IPC) setting is currently the de facto institution for accessing mental healthcare among underserved populations. However, many barriers exist for these populations when seeking regular and adequate mental healthcare, including provider availability and transportation challenges. This study piloted the incorporation of mindLAMP, a mHealth app, into IPC treatment to offer a low-resource intervention designed to improve and expand access to mental healthcare for underserved patients between face-to-face visits. This study gathered data from a sample of both behavioral health providers and patients (N = 6) in IPC settings to pilot the use of the mindLAMP app among traditionally underserved patients with depression. The Patient Activation Measure and Patient Health Questionnaire were used to assess patient outcomes in addition to conducting a directed content analysis on qualitative data obtained with interviews of both patients and providers. Results from the mixed methods study design indicate that implementing this digital intervention in the IPC setting is feasible and positively experienced by both patients and providers. Perceived positive outcomes were reported by both patients and providers after incorporating the mHealth app into their mental healthcare. However, both patients and providers discussed barriers to mHealth app use that need to be addressed in order to accommodate more widespread use. Further, constraints and barriers at the provider, patient, and healthcare system levels were discussed and need to be examined further to increase the implementation of this multilevel digital intervention.