Interventions Promoting Recovery from Depression for Patients Transitioning from Outpatient Mental Health Services to Primary Care: Protocol for a Scoping Review

Abstract

ABSTRACTIntroductionPatients with severe Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) have an increasing risk of new psychiatric hospitalizations following each new episode of depression highlighting the recurrent nature of the disorder. Furthermore, patients are not fully recovered at the end of their treatment in outpatient mental health services, and residual symptoms of depression might explain why patients with MDD have a high risk of relapse. However, evidence of methods to promote recovery after discharge from outpatient mental health services is lacking. The proposed scoping review aims to systematically scope, map and identify the literature and knowledge gaps on existing interventions that promote recovery from MDD for patients transitioning from outpatient mental health services to primary care.Methods and analysisThe proposed scoping review will follow the latest methodological guidance by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) in tandem with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis - extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist. The review is ongoing. Four electronic databases (Medline via PubMed, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and Sociological Abstracts) were systematically searched from 20 January 2022 till 29 March 2022 using keywords and text words. The review team consists of three independent screeners. Two screeners have completed the initial title and abstract screening for all studies retrieved by the search strategy. Currently, we are in the full text screening phase. Reference lists of included studies will be screened, and data will be independently extracted by the review team. Results will be analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively.Ethics and disseminationThe chosen methodology is based on the use of publicly available information and does not require ethical approval. Results will be published in an international peer reviewed scientific journal and additionally shared with relevant local and national authorities.RegistrationFollowing publication, we intend to register the protocol on Open Science Framework.Data availability statementData sharing not applicable as no datasets generated and/or analyzed for this study.Strengths and limitations of this studyTo our knowledge, this scoping review is the first to identify and map interventions that aim to promote recovery from severe major depressive disorder for patients transitioning from outpatient mental health services to primary care.The proposed scoping review will be conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis - extension for Scoping Reviews in tandem with the latest framework for scoping review proposed by the Joanna Briggs Institute.The review will not assess the quality of intern validity of included studies. However, we will outline the key characteristics of the best-available evidence in the area and comment of the applicability of the evidence in various settings.