Reducing Depressive Symptoms in Nursing Home Residents: Evaluation of the Pennsylvania Depression Collaborative Quality Improvement Program.

Depression reduces quality of life for nursing home (NH) residents and places them at greater risk for disability, medical morbidity, and mortality. However, accumulating evidence suggests that interventions for early detection and treatment can mitigate symptoms of clinical and subclinical levels of depression. The Promoting Positive Well-Being (PPW) program is a quality improvement (QI) intervention that features tools and strategies to assist NHs in early identification, assessment, treatment, and monitoring of residents with depressive symptoms.