Peer to Peer Delivery of Behavioral Activation

Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM)

Status: Completed

Conditions: Depression

Treatments: Other: Standard Mental Health Referral; Behavioral: Peer to Peer

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other; NIH

Identifiers

NCT02292849

1307014080

P30MH085943 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this study is to test the feasibility, acceptability and preliminary impact of peer-delivered Behavioral Activation (BA) for depressed older adults (60+) who are Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORC) residents or senior center participants.

Full description

This project focuses on helping to solve a growing problem in health care today. Through increased screening in the older adult population, detection of depression has increased which has established a growing need for mental health resources. Unfortunately, there are limited resources to keep up with the steady increase of individuals in need. Training peers to work with older depressed adults in techniques such as behavioral activation provides an alternative model to help moderate the increased need and provide a unique intervention of care. Developing an innovative peer facilitated program has the potential to enhance the delivery of quality health care.

The specific aims of the study are 1) to train peer coaches and implement Peer to Peer in the community 2) to examine depression ratings over time.

Enrollment: 29 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 60+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Age 60 and older
• Member of Lenox Hill Senior Center, St. Peter's Senior Center, or Beth Abe
• Score of 10+ on Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)

Exclusion criteria

• Presence of alcohol abuse, substance abuse, psychotic disorder, or bipolar disorder as observed on the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (SCID)
• Inability to speak English
• Dementia: Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score below 24
• High suicide risk, i.e. intent or plan to attempt suicide

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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29 participants in 2 patient groups

Peer to Peer

Experimental group

Description:

These individuals will receive a standard mental health referral to a community agency and in addition meet with a trained peer coach for 12 weekly meetings.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Peer to Peer

Referral

Active Comparator group

Description:

These individuals will receive a standard mental health referral to a community agency.

Treatment:

Other: Standard Mental Health Referral