Primary care physicians and elder abuse: current attitudes and practices.

Context: while estimates suggest that between 1.4% and 5.4% of older adults experience abuse, only 1 of 14 cases of elder abuse or neglect is ever reported to authorities.

Elder abuse education in residency programs: how well are we doing?

Purpose: To understand whether education is at the heart of underreporting elder abuse by surveying Michigan residency program directors to learn about their elder abuse curricula.

Method: In 2006, a questionnaire was mailed to 71 residency program directors in Michigan. Participants responded to closed-ended or Likert-type items about program demographics, elder abuse curricula, desire for additional related program materials, and related clinical experience.

Elder abuse education in primary care residency programs: a cluster group analysis.

Background And Objectives: Elder abuse is a serious issue, affecting up to 10% of community-dwelling older adults. This project sought to understand if elder abuse under-reporting was related to physician specialty and residency training.

Methods: A 17-item survey focusing on program demographics, current curriculum, priority of elder abuse education, clinical and didactic experiences, and triage resources was mailed to directors of all Michigan primary care residencies approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

An administrator's perspective on mental health in assisted living.

Administrators of 94 assisted living facilities in Michigan completed a 19-item survey about the extent of mental health problems of residents and how such problems were addressed. In 45 facilities more than half of the residents were reported to be cognitively impaired. The two most common problems were dementia and depression.

Comparing clinical practice with guideline recommendations for the treatment of depression in geriatric patients: findings from the APA practice research network.

Objective: The authors describe treatments provided for depressed geriatric patients (age 65+) treated by psychiatrists in the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) Practice Research Network (PRN) and compare treatments with recommended guidelines for treating late-life depression.

Methods: Detailed demographics, diagnoses, service utilization, and treatment information were collected on relevant patients treated by psychiatrists participating in the APA's PRN during 1997, sample-weighted to produce nationally representative estimates. Treatment data were qualitatively compared with existing depression treatment guidelines from the APA and the Expert Consensus Guideline Series on pharmacotherapy of depressive disorders in older patients.

Late-life depression and mental health services in primary care.

Mental health services in the treatment of late-life depression are critical in the primary care arena. A significant proportion of elderly patients experience depression, a problem causing a far-reaching impact on morbidity, mortality, and quality of life. A number of barriers may prevent effective depression treatment including negative physician and patient attitudes toward the stigma of depression, somatically focused clinical presentations, health care plan constraints, and competing medical demands, as well as gender and geographic isolation.