Shared Decision-Making in Mental Health Care - SAMHSA Store ...

103video about shared decision-making, The Informed Health Care Consumer, whichintroduces evidence-based medicine and shared decision-making. The library makesavailable materials on a variety of diagnoses; different topics naturally have differentnumbers of items associated with them. Among the center’s online resources,the topic of mental health lists only a 35-minute video titled Coping with Symptomsof Depression (for more information on this video, see under Health Dialog).Other materials and forms of assistance are available at the center’s Web site,http://www.fimdm.org.Healthwise®. Healthwise is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1975 whosemission is to help consumers make better health care decisions. One of the principalsources of DAs, Healthwise has developed 107 “Knowledgebase Decision Points.”They report that nearly 30 million of their health care guides have been distributed,and that people use their DAs nearly 90 million times a year. Numerous organizations,including health plans, providers, and government agencies, work withHealthwise and distribute their materials. Healthwise makes its DAs available tothe public, but through others’ Web sites rather than their own. OHRI, for example,offers access to many Healthwise DAs through links; OHRI’s site also assessesthe extent to which DAs meet IPDAS criteria. The organization’s Web address ishttp://www.healthwise.org.NexCura®. NexCura, part of Thomson Scientific & Healthcare, offers a systemthat allows each individual to complete an online profile. This information is thenmatched with the organization’s database of relevant scientific information to providean individualized DA. NexCura works with not-for-profit organizations (suchas the American Cancer Society and the American Heart Association), medical centers,health plans, major corporations, and commercial Web sites, each of which embedsthe NexCura tools within its own Web site. NexCura markets its methodologyto pharmaceutical companies, suggesting that it can serve purposes other than thoseof just the consumer. The Web address is http://www.nexcura.com.WebMD. Although WebMD does not offer DAs per se, it does provide extensive freeinformation and constitutes a vast and significant Web presence in the health arena.Its Web site (http://www.webmd.com) includes information organized by symptomand by disease; drug information; information specifically geared to women, men,and children; and guidance about virtually every aspect of health, wellness, and fitness.It has a huge “Depression Health Center” that includes information on specificdrugs, psychotherapy, and on “living and managing,” as well as offering blogs,advice, and a long list of links to other resources. It also suggests “questions to askyour doctor about depression.” WebMD has its own staff of experts and writers whowrite and review what appears on the site; it also has links with MedicineNet.com.As all-encompassing as it is, WebMD’s vast site could be somewhat confusing to aconsumer who lacks familiarity with the cyberworld. For example, it incorporates agreat deal of “sponsored information.” This material is clearly labeled as such, butShared Decision-Making in Mental Health Care: Practice, Research, and Future Directions