Depression Center Director Jesse Wright receives NIH Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality award

Dr. Jesse Wright, MD, PhD and director of the UofL Depression Center, has received an award from the NIH Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality for his research project titled "Dissemination of Computer-Assisted Cognitive-Behavior Therapy for Depression in Primary Care". The study will disseminate a therapy method found to be effective in psychiatric settings into primary care - a setting where there have been significant problems in delivery of adequate, evidence-based treatment for depression. The study will include a high percentage of disadvantaged patients - a population that has been largely ignored in previous research in CCBT.

The form of CCBT used in this study is designed to increase access to effective therapy, provide a cost-effective method, and be a sustainable model for wide-spread use in primary care. In order to deliver therapy in a practical manner that can be replicated in other primary care practices, patients with significant symptoms of depression will receive treatment with an empirically supported computer program that builds cognitive-behavior therapy skills.

This project will span 5 years.