Mental Health Intervention for Elderly Abuse Victims (PROTECT)

Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Depression

Treatments: Behavioral: PROTECT

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02283385

1306014011

Details and patient eligibility

About

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.

Full 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.

Enrollment: 63 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 60+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

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

Trial design

Primary purpose: Health Services Research

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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63 participants in 1 patient group

PROTECT Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Participants will receive a brief psychotherapy that builds on Problem Solving Therapy (PST)

Treatment:

Behavioral: PROTECT