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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Telephone-based care management for older adults initiated on psychotropic medication | | Author(s) | Donovan T Maust, Shahrzad Mavandadi, Joel E Streim |
| Journal title | International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 28, no 4, April 2013 |
| Publisher | Wiley Blackwell, April 2013 |
| Pages | pp 410-416 |
| Source | www.orangejournal.org |
| Keywords | Depression ; Symptoms ; Drugs ; Telephone ; Management [care] ; Evaluation ; Longitudinal surveys. |
| Annotation | This study aimed to explore the longitudinal, six-month symptom course of older adults newly started on an antidepressant or anxiolytic by non-psychiatrist physicians and enrolled in a care management programme. This was a naturalistic cohort study of older adults aged 65 years or over receiving pharmacotherapy and telephone-based care management. Participants were non-institutionalised adults participating in Pennsylvania's Pharmaceutical Assistance Contract for the Elderly who completed telephone-based clinical assessments including demographic data, self-report on history of psychiatric treatment and adherence, and standardised symptom scales. A total of 162 participants with an average age of 77.2 years were followed and, for analysis, split into two groups by PHQ-9 score: 75 (46.3%) scoring 0_4 (minimally symptomatic group, MSG) and 87 (53.7%) scoring 5 or more (symptomatic group, SG). Over six months, the SG improved with PHQ-9 scores beginning on average at 10.0 (SD 4.6) and falling to 5.4 (SD 4.2). The MSG had no significant change in depressive symptoms. Emotional health as measured by SF-12 Mental Composite Score mirrored the PHQ-9 change and lack thereof in the SG and MSG respectively. No clinical or demographic features were associated with symptom improvement in the SG although they were more likely to report medication adherence compared with the MSG. The study concludes that participation of symptomatic older adults initiated on psychotropic medication in a telephone-based care management programme was associated with improvement in depressive symptoms and overall emotional well-being. These were notable findings given participants' advanced age, state-wide distribution and history of limited utilisation of mental health care. (JL). |
| Accession Number | CPA-130315234 A |
| Classmark | ENR: CT: LLD: UJ: QA: 4C: 3J |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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