Achieving person-centered care by helping individuals and their care teams collaborate in health care decisions.

The Dartmouth Psychiatric Research Center has been a leader in promoting the practice of shared decision making (SDM) in mental health. SDM is a collaborative process that allows individuals and their care teams to make decisions together, taking into account the best scientific evidence, as well as individual values and preferences.  SDM facilitates person-centered care in clinical settings by shifting the focus from “what is the matter”, to “what matters to me”. It also helps to activate and engage individuals in their care.

To date, no studies have examined the comparative effectiveness of varying approaches to support shared decision making in medication treatment on outcomes that matter most for individuals diagnosed with serious mental illness. With funding from PCORI (Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute), Dartmouth PRC and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center for High-Value Health Care is conducting a study titled: Amplifying the Patient’s Voice: Person-Centered vs. Measurement-Based Approaches in Mental Health Study. Lead by Principal Investigators Kim MacDonald-Wilson, ScD, Gregory McHugo, PhD and Patricia E. Deegan PhD, the study will compare two shared decision making interventions: Person-Centered Care and Measurement-Based Care. Over 2,400 Medicaid enrolled individuals across 15 mental health centers are involved in the 2-year study.