ABSTRACT
Consumers of health services have been taking a more active approach to their own health care. For example, Sirovatka (2002) reports that 7 million hits are registered every month on the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) homepage. Self-administered treatment in the primary care setting is a promising approach to broaden the choice of treatments and improve the quality of service for those with a wide array of health problems. In this chapter, we review characteristics of patients and problems seen in primary care, discuss what is known about patient and provider receptivity to self-administered treatments, describe the evidence concerning the effectiveness of these treatments in primary care, and consider some of the promising models that have been evaluated. We conclude by discussing strategies to disseminate self-administered treatments (self-help) into primary care. For the purposes of this chapter, self-administered treatments are defined as media-based approaches such as manuals, self-help books, audiotapes, videotapes, computer programs, Internet sites, or interactive voice response systems that allow for individuals to help themselves with minimal assistance from a primary care provider (Williams, 2003).
