In this study, the use of a Depression Medication Choice (DMC) encounter decision aid, which consisted of several cards comparing commonly used antidepressants on several factors important to patients (e.g. weight gain; sexual dysfunction), was associated with improved patient and physician satisfaction with the encounter, with both reporting greater knowledge as well as increased comfort and satisfaction with their decisions regarding antidepressant choice.
There were however no observed benefits in terms of adherence or depression outcomes. The author of an invited commentary notes that this may be due to the unexpectedly high adherence seen in this study, and also because decision aids are more often used when equally appropriate alternatives are available (so there would not necessarily be an impact on clinical outcomes). They say that despite this, the benefits on patient-centred outcomes may have an ‘independent intrinsic value’, and that informed patient input may be especially desirable for medications prescribed for chronic use.