Optimising RELEASE resources for patients

About the study

Background

There is considerable concern in Australia about increasing antidepressant use, especially increasing long-term (>12 month) use. Australia has one of the highest rates of antidepressant use in the world.

RELEASE (REdressing Long-tErm Antidepressant uSE in general practice) is a multi-modal intervention designed to prompt and support safe discontinuation of long-term antidepressants.

RELEASE includes written resources that educate patients about long-term antidepressants and support them to discontinue antidepressants if the time is right.

Aim

The aim was to optimise the RELEASE resources by exploring and integrating the perspectives of patients who will use the resources.

Design

We conducted interviews with 14 people with lived experience of taking long-term antidepressants. During the interview, participants were encouraged to say their thoughts out loud as they were reading each RELEASE resource.

The interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Interview transcripts were analysed to identify areas of improvement and were used to refine the resources.