Clinical trial NCT02283385: Mental Health Intervention for Elderly Abuse Victims
Official title: Mental Health Intervention for Elderly Abuse Victims: Providing Options to Elderly Clients Together (PROTECT)
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Depression
Keywords: Elder abuse
Intervention
Treatment
Detection
Lead sponsor: Weill Medical College of Cornell University
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc.
name: New York City Department for the Aging
name: Jewish Association Serving the Aging (JASA)
First posted: 2014-11-05
Enrollment: 63
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 60
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Brief summary: There is no current elder abuse service that systematically assesses and provides services to address the mental health needs of older adult abuse victims. The proposed study will investigate the efficacy of a skill-based, mental health intervention to help treat elder abuse victims, bolster mental health outcomes, and improve detection of symptomatology in future screenings.

Detailed description: Despite increasing recognition of the epidemic of elder abuse, we continue to face barriers helping abuse victims access and use elder abuse resolution services. In addition, many victims suffer from concurrent mental health problems that prevent them from taking the necessary steps to protect themselves. The proposed study will introduce a tailored intervention, built on an evidence-based approach (Problem Solving Therapy), to be delivered through a sustainable mental health program embedded in elder abuse services. The proposed psychotherapy is a brief 8-session weekly intervention that combines problem-solving therapy, anxiety management, and psycho education developed specifically for this population by this team.

The objectives of the project are to: identify the mental health needs of elder abuse victims, provide the mental health treatment, assess the impact of the treatment, and facilitate conditions which will sustain the mental health program.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Client of the New York City Department for the Aging's (DFTA) Elderly Crime Victims Resource Center
* Score of 10 or higher on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) or Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7)

Exclusion Criteria:

* Co-morbid psychiatric disorder other than unipolar non-psychotic major depression that prevents participation in depression and anxiety screening
* Inability to speak or understand English
* Cognitive impairment that prevents participation in screening, as determined by screening social worker

Primary outcomes:
measure: Depression (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale)
timeFrame: 12 weeks
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Functioning (Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale)
timeFrame: 12 weeks
measure: Service Utilization (specialized mistreatment and service outcome questionnaires)
timeFrame: 12 weeks
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: New York
country: United States
facility: Department for the Aging: Elderly Crime Victims Resource Center
state: New York
city: New York
country: United States
facility: Jewish Association Serving the Aging
state: New York
Study officials:
affiliation: Weill Medical College of Cornell University
name: Jo Anne Sirey, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: