Special section - The MacArthur Foundation depression education program for primary care physicians: Background, participant's workbook, and facilitator's guide

In order to improve the assessment and management of depression in general medical care, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supported t he development, evaluation, and dissemination of an eight-hour depression e ducation program (DEP) for primary care physicians. This publication includ es a paper describing the background and educational rationale for the prog ram structure, the complete participant's workbook, and a facilitator's gui de for teaching the program. Given in two separate four-hour workshops by a psychiatrist and a primary care physician, DEP is delivered to small group s of learners (about 12) using an interactive adult learning model and mult iple teaching techniques including targeted yet flexible objectives, two le ctures, videotape demonstration and discussion, role-play exercises, a focu sed monograph on depression, an interview checklist, structured assessment and outcomes tools, clinical case studies, and audiotape review of actual p atient interviews. DEP has been shown in a prospective randomized trial to improve physicians' interviewing skills as well as simulated-patient satisf action scores. Over 150 PCPs in four states have taken DEP in more than 30 separate programs given by 24 trained facilitators. Participants, despite a wide diversity of background knowledge and skills, have uniformly reported remarkably positive learner satisfaction with all dimensions of the Progra m.