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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

Increase the proportion of adults with depression who get treatment — MHMD‑05 Data Methodology and Measurement

On this page:  About the National Data  |  Methodology  |  History

About the National Data

Data

Data Source:  National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), SAMHSA

Baseline: 64.8 percent of adults aged 18 years and over with MDEs received treatment in the past 12 months, as reported in 2018

Target: 69.5 percent

Numerator
Number of adults aged 18 years and over with MDE within the past 12 months who received treatment.
Denominator
Number of adults aged 18 years and over with MDE in the past 12 months.
Target-setting method
Percentage point improvement
Target-setting method details
Percentage point improvement from the baseline using Cohen's h effect size of 0.10.
1
Target-setting method justification
Trend data were evaluated for this objective, but it was not possible to project a target because the trend was moving away from the desired direction. A percentage point improvement was calculated using Cohen's h effect size of 0.1. This method was used because it was a clinically meaningful improvement from the baseline.

Methodology

Questions used to obtain the national baseline data

(For additional information, please visit the data source page linked above.)

From the 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health:

Numerator and Denominator:
Have you ever in your life had a period of time lasting several days or longer when most of the day you felt sad, empty or depressed?
  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. Don't know/Refused
Have you ever had a period of time lasting several days or longer when most of the day you were very discouraged about how things were going in your life?
  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. Don't know/Refused
Have you ever had a period of time lasting several days or longer when you lost interest in most things you usually enjoy like work, hobbies, and personal relationships?
  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. Don't know/Refused
During times when you felt sad, empty, or depressed most of the day, did you ever feel discouraged about how things were going in your life?
  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. Don't know/Refused
During the times when you felt sad, empty, or depressed, did you ever lose interest in most things like work, hobbies, and other things you usually enjoy?
  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. Don't know/Refused
During the times when you felt sad, empty, or depressed, did you ever lose interest in most things like work, hobbies, and other things you usually enjoy?
  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. Don't know/Refused
During times when you felt discouraged about how things were going in your life, did you ever lose interest in most things like work, hobbies, and other things you usually enjoy?
  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. Don't know/Refused
Did you ever have a period of time like this that lasted most of the day nearly every day for two weeks or longer?
  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. Don't know/Refused
During the past 12 months, have you stayed overnight or longer in a hospital or other facility to receive treatment or counseling for any problem you were having with your emotions, nerves, or mental health? Please do not include treatment for alcohol or drug use.
  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. Don't know/Refused
During the past 12 months, have you stayed overnight or longer in a hospital or other facility to receive treatment or counseling for any problem you were having with your emotions, nerves, or mental health? Please do not include treatment for alcohol or drug use.
  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. Don't know/Refused
Where did you stay overnight or longer to receive mental health treatment or counseling during the past 12 months?
  1. A private or public psychiatric hospital
  2. A psychiatric unit of a general hospital
  3. A medical unit of a general hospital
  4. Another type of hospital
  5. A residential treatment center
  6. Some other type of facility
During the past 12 months, how many nights did you spend in a private or public psychiatric hospital for mental health care?

During the past 12 months, how many nights did you spend in the psychiatric unit of a general hospital for mental health care?

During the past 12 months, how many nights did you spend in the psychiatric unit of a general hospital for mental health care?

During the past 12 months, how many nights did you spend in some other type of hospital for mental health care?

During the past 12 months, how many nights did you spend in a residential treatment center for mental health care?

During the past 12 months, how many nights did you spend in some other type of facility for mental health care?

During the past 12 months, did you receive any outpatient treatment or counseling for any problem you were having with your emotions, nerves, or mental health at any of the places listed below? Please do not include treatment for alcohol or drug use.

  1. An outpatient mental health clinic or center
  2. The office of a private therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, social worker, or counselor that was not part of a clinic
  3. A medical unit of a general hospital
  4. A doctor's office that was not part of a clinic
  5. An outpatient medical clinic
  6. A partial day hospital or day treatment program
  7. Some other place
During the past 12 months, how many visits did you make to an outpatient mental health clinic or center for mental health care?

During the past 12 months, how many outpatient visits did you make to a private therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, social worker, or counselor for mental health care?

During the past 12 months, how many outpatient visits did you make to a doctor's office for mental health care?

During the past 12 months, how many outpatient visits did you make to an outpatient medical clinic for mental health care?

During the past 12 months, how many outpatient visits did you make to a partial day hospital or day treatment program for mental health care?

During the past 12 months, how many outpatient visits did you make to some other type of facility for mental health care?

Please think again about answering this question: During the past 12 months, did you take any prescription medication that was prescribed for you to treat a mental or emotional condition?

  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. Don't know/Refused

Methodology notes

Receiving treatment for MDE is defined as an adult having received treatment/counseling if s/he saw or talked to a medical doctor or other professional for MDE in the past year. Persons answering affirmatively to any of the battery of questions in the NSDUH mental health service utilization module were considered to have received treatment.

History

Comparable HP2020 objective
Retained, which includes core objectives that are continuing from Healthy People 2020 with no change in measurement.

1. Effect size h=0.1 was chosen to correspond with 10% improvement from a baseline of 50%.