Collaborative Stepped Care and Peer Support Programme for Older People At-Risk of or With Depression

Summary

To develop a viable and sustainable best practice model to promote elderly mental wellness and prevent elderly depression for Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust has initiated a pilot holistic support project entitled "JC JoyAge: Holistic Support Project for Elderly Mental Wellness". Commenced in October 2016, this 3-year project will deliver six programmes: (1) social services staff training; (2) peer supporters certificate training; (3) outreach and engagement activities for at-risk older adults; (4) standardized prevention and early intervention service; (5) community education programmes; and (6) public awareness and public education activities in four pilot districts in Hong Kong, namely Kwun Tong, Sham Shui Po, Kwai Chung, and Tseung Kwan O. The project aims specifically to:

1. Evaluate the effectiveness of a collaborative stepped care and peer support programme in engaging older people at-risk of or with depression;
2. Evaluate the efficacy of the programme in reducing symptoms/risks and promoting wellbeing in older people at-risk of or with depression;
3. Investigate the impact of the programme on care resources utilization in these older adults.

Conditions

• Depressive Symptoms

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Collaborative stepped care and peer support programme

For "at-risk" group, 4 weeks of "selective prevention" group sessions will be provided at the elderly service level by trained peer supporters with registered social worker supervision, on wellness topics tailored to the person's concern as entry point, packaged with mental health information, followed by a review. For mild group, 6-8 weeks of indicated prevention with psychoeducation or low-intensity psychotherapy would be provided. For moderate group, 6-8 weeks high-intensity cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) would be provided. All intervention for depressed elderly would be conducted by registered social workers. The trained peer supporters will be matched to individual older adults to walk them through the process with regular follow-up for 1 year.

OTHER

Treatment as usual

The control group will receive treatment as usual, which will be determined by the responsible workers from NGO units.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust

  collaborator OTHER

• Caritas Medical Centre, Hong Kong

  collaborator OTHER

• Christian Family Service Centre

  collaborator OTHER

• Haven of Hope Hospital

  collaborator OTHER

• Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui Lady MacLehose Centre

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• The Mental Health Association of Hong Kong

  collaborator OTHER

• New Life Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association

  collaborator OTHER

• The University of Hong Kong

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Terry Lum, PhD · Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong

• Gloria Wong, PhD · Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

60 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-10-01

Primary Completion

2020-12-31

Completion

2022-04-30

Countries

• Hong Kong

Study Locations