Mental Health Intervention for Elderly Abuse Victims (PROTECT)

Mental Health Intervention for Elderly Abuse Victims: Providing Options to Elderly Clients Together (PROTECT)

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.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Depression
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: PROTECT

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.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 63
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • New York, New York, United States, 10007
      • Department for the Aging: Elderly Crime Victims Resource Center
    • New York, New York, United States, 10018
      • Jewish Association Serving the Aging

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 60 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

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

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: N/A
• Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

1

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: PROTECT Intervention; Participants will receive a brief psychotherapy that builds on Problem Solving Therapy (PST)	Behavioral: PROTECT; 8-session weekly psychotherapy intervention that combines problem-solving therapy, anxiety management and psycho education developed specifically for this population

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Depression (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale)	To document effectiveness of PROTECT intervention in reducing depressive symptoms. Severity of depression will be assessed at baseline and 12 weeks using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale as the primary measure.	12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Functioning (Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale)	To document effectiveness of PROTECT intervention in increasing quality of life, social interaction, and overall functioning. Severity will be assessed at baseline and 12 weeks using the Behavioral Activation for Depression Scale as the primary measure.	12 weeks
Service Utilization (specialized mistreatment and service outcome questionnaires)	To document effectiveness of PROTECT intervention in increasing clients' utilization of elder abuse services and subsequently reporting a reduction in abuse. Service utilization and severity of abuse will be assessed at baseline and 12 weeks using specialized mistreatment and service outcome questionnaires.	12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Weill Medical College of Cornell University
• Collaborators: The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc.; New York City Department for the Aging; Jewish Association Serving the Aging (JASA)
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Jo Anne Sirey, PhD, Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): July 1, 2014
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 30, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): June 30, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 24, 2014
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: November 4, 2014
• First Posted (Estimate): November 5, 2014

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 3, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 30, 2018
• Last Verified: April 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: Treatment; Detection; Intervention; Elder abuse
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Depression
• Other Study ID Numbers: 1306014011

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: UNDECIDED