Evaluation of an Adapted Collaborative Care Model for Older Adult Depression Severity Reduction and Quality of Life Improvement.

Purpose: The purpose of this clinical study was to evaluate the efficacy of a collaborative care model in the reduction of depression severity and the improvement of quality of life (QOL) of older adults.

Methods: Individual participant encounters were conducted approximately every 2 weeks over 4 months with nineteen participants. Average participant age was 73 years. A pre-experimental single pretest-posttest group was conducted in which the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) and Quality of Life Assessment (QOLA) scores respectively measured depression severity and QOL of participants.

Results: The average PHQ-9 score (0-27; higher indicates worse depression) decreased from 14 pre-intervention to 8.3 post-intervention ( < .001), while the average QOLA score (0-10; higher indicates better QOL) increased from 5.7 pre-intervention to 6.5 post-intervention ( = .342).

Conclusion: The adapted collaborative care model provided an affordable, effective method of older adult depression management within the contexts of this clinical study.