Tele-PROTECT Therapy: Effectiveness, Empowerment, and Implementation

Summary

The purpose of this randomized trial is to conduct a fully powered effectiveness trial of video-delivered PROTECT (Tele-PROTECT) compared to a video-delivered depression education (DepEd) control condition to be delivered to 140 English- and Spanish-speaking NYC elder abuse victims. Investigators hypothesize three main aims:

1. Effectiveness Aim: Tele-PROTECT participants will have significantly greater and clinically meaningful reductions in depression when compared to the DepEd control;
2. Abuse Impact Aim: Tele-PROTECT participants will demonstrate greater safety related empowerment compared to DepEd control, which can help participants take steps to reduce risk;
3. Implementation Aim: Stakeholders' views of the factors impacting the implementation of Tele-PROTECT based on characteristics of the intervention, agency setting, and population served will contribute to a national dissemination of Tele-PROTECT

Participants will

* Receive 9 weeks of tele health psychotherapy delivered by a Master's level mental health clinician from the Weill Cornell Medicine research team. Participants will be assigned to "Tele-PROTECT" or "DepEd" psychotherapy randomly.
* Participate in one baseline assessment and four follow-up assessments at weeks 3, 6, 9, and 12 administered by a trained member of the research team.

Conditions

• Depression
• Elder Abuse

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Tele PROTECT

Tele-PROTECT is a behavioral intervention delivered virtually over nine 45-minute sessions for depressed elder abuse (EA) victims. It is designed to work in synergy with EA resolution services that provide safety planning, support services, and links to legal services.

BEHAVIORAL

Depression Education

DepEd is designed as an intervention delivered virtually over nine 45-minute sessions with active therapeutic ingredients (education, support, empathy). It is designed to be what a good clinician providing education would do with an individual with depression.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• New York City Department for the Aging

  collaborator OTHER

• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

  collaborator NIH

• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

  collaborator OTHER

• Weill Medical College of Cornell University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Jo Anne Sirey, Ph.D · Weill Medical College of Cornell University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

60 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2023-09-22

Primary Completion

2028-03-31

Completion

2029-01-01

Countries

• United States

Study Locations