Initial and Follow-Up Evaluations of Integrated Psychological Services for Anxiety and Depression in a Safety Net Primary Care Clinic.

Objective: Despite the recognized importance of integrated behavioral health, particularly in safety net primary care, its effectiveness in real world settings has not been extensively evaluated. This article presents 2 successive studies examining the effectiveness of integrated behavioral care in a safety net setting.

Method: Study 1 compared the depression and anxiety scores of predominately low-income and minority patients who underwent brief interventions (N = 147) to those of patients from a demographically similar comparison clinic without integrated psychological services, matched on baseline levels of anxiety and depression and length of time between assessments (N = 139).