Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-17T08:12:05.908Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

An evaluation of the beyondblue Depression Training Program for aged care workers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 March 2010

David Mellor ,
Melanie Kiehne ,
Marita P. McCabe ,
Tanya E. Davison ,
Gery Karantzas  and
Kuruvilla George
David Mellor*
Affiliation:
Deakin University, Victoria, Australia
Melanie Kiehne
Affiliation:
Deakin University, Victoria, Australia
Marita P. McCabe
Affiliation:
Deakin University, Victoria, Australia
Tanya E. Davison
Affiliation:
Deakin University, Victoria, Australia
Gery Karantzas
Affiliation:
Deakin University, Victoria, Australia
Kuruvilla George
Affiliation:
Eastern Health Aged Persons’ Mental Health, Victoria, Australia
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: David Mellor, School of Psychology, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125Australia. Phone: +61 3 9244 3742; Fax: +61 3 9244 6858. Email: david.mellor@deakin.edu.au.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of depression among older people receiving care is high, yet the rate of treatment of this disorder is low. One way to improve the pathway to care is to train care staff to recognize the symptoms of depression and raise their confidence in responding to them. In this study we evaluated the efficacy of the beyondblue Depression Training Program to achieve this aim.

Methods: Staff (N = 148) from low level care facilities and community care facilities in metropolitan Melbourne completed the beyondblue Depression Training Program, while staff in other facilities (N = 96) acted as controls. Pre-program, post-program and follow-up questionnaire data were collected and referrals for depression by staff were recorded.

Results: Training improved carers’ knowledge about depression, their self-efficacy in responding to signs of depression and their attitudes towards working with depressed aged care recipients. In addition, training increased the number of referrals for depression made by carers.

Conclusion: Training aged care staff in depression can improve the pathways to care for depressed care recipients, and has the potential to improve the quality of life of older people.

Keywords

recognitiontreatmentdepressionolder adultsresidential care
Type
Special Issue Articles
Information
International Psychogeriatrics , Volume 22 , Special Issue 6: Focus on training in psychogeriatrics , September 2010 , pp. 927 - 937
Copyright
Copyright © International Psychogeriatric Association 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alexopoulos, G., Abrams, R., Young, R. and Shamoian, C. (1988). Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia. Biological Psychiatry, 23, 271–284.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Alexopoulos, G. S., Buckwalter, K., Olin, J., Martinez, R., Wainscott, C. and Krishnan, R. R. (2002). Comorbidity of late-life depression: an opportunity for research on mechanisms and treatment. Biological Psychiatry, 52, 543–558. doi:10.1016/S0006-3223(02)01468-3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ames, D. (1991). Epidemiological studies of depression among the elderly in residential and nursing homes. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 6, 347–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Anderson, D. N. (2001). Treating depression in old age: The reasons to be positive. Age and Ageing, 30, 13–17. doi:10.1093/ageing/30.1.13.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bagley, H. et al. (2000). Recognition of depression by staff in nursing and residential homes. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 9, 445–450. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2702.2000.00390.xCrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baldwin, R. C., Chiu, E., Katona, C. and Graham, N. (2002). Guidelines on Depression in Older People: Practicing the Evidence. London: Duntz.Google Scholar
Banerjee, S. (1993). Prevalence and recognition rates of psychiatric disorder in the elderly clients of a community care service. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 8, 125–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blank, K., Gruman, C. and Robinson, J. T. (2004). Case-finding for depression in elderly people: balancing ease of administration with validity in varied treatment settings. Journal of Gerontology, 59A, 378–383.Google Scholar
Botega, N., Mann, A., Blizard, R. and Wilkinson, G. (1992). General practitioners and depression: first use of the Depression Attitude Questionnaire. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, 2, 169–180.Google Scholar
Boyle, V. L., Roychoudhury, C., Beniak, R., Cohn, L., Bayer, A. and Katz, I. (2004). Recognition and management of depression in skilled-nursing and long-term care settings: evolving targets for quality improvement. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 12, 288–295.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, M. N., Lapane, K. L. and Luisi, A. F. (2002). The management of depression in older nursing home residents. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 50, 69–76. doi:10.1046/j.1532-5415.2002.50010.x.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bruce, M. L. et al. (2002). Major depression in elderly home health care patients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 1367–1374.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crawford, M. J., Prince, M., Menezes, P. and Mann, A. H. (1998). The recognition and treatment of depression in older people in primary care. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 13, 172–176.3.0.CO;2-C>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davison, T. E., McCabe, M. P., Mellor, D., Ski, C., George, K. and Moore, K. (2007). The prevalence and recognition of major depression among aged care residents with and without cognitive impairment. Aging and Mental Health, 11, 82–88. doi:10.1080/13607860600736109.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davison, T., McCabe, M., Mellor, D., Karantzas, G. and George, K. (2009). Knowledge of late-life depression: an empirical investigation of aged care staff. Aging and Mental Health, 13, 577–586.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Engberg, S., Sereika, S., Weber, E., Engberg, R., McDowell, B. J. and Reynolds, C. F. (2001). Prevalence and recognition of depressive symptoms among homebound older adults with urinary incontinence. Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, 14, 130–139. doi:10.1177/089198870101400306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Evers, M. M., Samuels, S. C., Lantz, M., Khan, K., Brickman, A. M. and Marin, D. B. (2002). The prevalence, diagnosis and treatment of depression in dementia patients in chronic care facilities in the last six months of life. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 17, 464–472. doi:10.1002/gps.634.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodwin, P. E. and Smyer, M. A. (1999). Accuracy of recognition and diagnosis of comorbid depression in the nursing home. Aging and Mental Health, 3, 340–350. doi:10.1080/13607869956127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haddad, M., Walters, P. and Tylee, A. (2007). District nursing staff and depression: a psychometric evaluation of Depression Attitude Questionnaire findings. International Journal of Nursing Studies, 44, 447–456. doi:10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2006.07.005.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marelli, T. M. and Tanner, E. K. (2005). Recognising late-life depression: why is this important for nurses in the home setting? Geriatric Nursing, 26, 145–149. doi:10.1016/j.gerinurse.2005.03.020.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayall, E., Oathamshaw, S., Lovell, K. and Pusey, H. (2004). Development and piloting of a multidisciplinary training course for detecting and managing depression in older persons. Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing, 11, 165–171. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2850.2003.00702.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCabe, M. P. et al. (2004). Recognising and Screening for Depression among Older People Living in Residential Care. Report for the beyondblue Victorian Centre of Excellence in Depression and Related Disorders. Melbourne: Deakin University.Google Scholar
McCabe, M. P., Davison, T. E. and Mellor, D. (2006). A Training Program for Professional Carers in Recognising Depression. Part 1: Needs Analysis. Report for the beyondblue Victorian Centre of Excellence in Depression and Related Disorders. Melbourne: Deakin University.Google Scholar
McCabe, M. P., Davison, T. E., Mellor, D. and George, K. (2008a). Knowledge and skills of professional carers working with older people with depression. Aging and Mental Health, 12, 228–235. doi:10.1080/13607860701797166.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCabe, M. P., Davison, T. E., Mellor, D. and Russo, S. (2008b). The beyondblue Training Program for Professional Carers in Recognising Late-life Depression. Report for the beyondblue Victorian Centre of Excellence in Depression and Related Disorders. Melbourne: Deakin University.Google Scholar
McCabe, M. P., Russo, S., Mellor, D., Davison, T. E. and George, K. (2008c). Effectiveness of a training program for carers to recognise depression among older people. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23, 1290–1296. doi:10.1002/gps.2067.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mellor, D., Davison, T. E., McCabe, M. P. and George, K. (2008a). Professional carers’ knowledge and response to depression among their aged-care clients: the care recipients’ perspective. Aging and Mental Health, 12, 389–399. doi:10.1080/13607860701797182.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mellor, D., Davison, T. E., McCabe, M. P. and George, K. (2008b). The management of depressed elderly care recipients: family perspectives on the skills of professional carers. Journal of Community Health Nursing, 25, 44–61. doi:10.1080/07370010701836401.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
NIH Consensus Conference (1992). Diagnosis and treatment of depression in late life. JAMA, 268, 1018–1024.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosen, J., Mulsant, B. H., Kollar, M., Kastanga, K. B., Mazumdar, S. and Fox, D. (2002). Mental health training for nursing home staff using computer-based interactive video: a 6-month randomised trial. Journal of American Medical Directors Association, 3, 291–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schwenk, T. L. (2002). Diagnosis of late-life depression: the view from primary care. Biological Psychiatry, 52, 157–163. doi:10.1016/S0006-3223(02)01389-6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teresi, J., Abrams, R., Holmes, D., Ramirez, M. and Eimicke, J. (2001). Prevalence of depression and depression recognition in nursing homes. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 36, 613–620. doi 10.1007/s127-001-8202-7CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walker, B. L. and Osgood, N. J. (2000). Preventing suicide and depression: a training program for long-term care staff. Omega, 42, 55–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waller, R. and Hillam, J. C., (2000). Assessment of depression in older medical inpatients: practice, attitudes and the effect of teaching. Aging and Mental Health, 4, 275–277. doi:10.1080/13607860050128300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watson, L. C., Garrett, J. M., Sloane, P. D., Gruber-Baldini, A. L. and Zimmerman, S. (2003). Depression in assisted living: results from a four-state study. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 11, 534–542.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yesavage, J. A. et al. (1982). Development and validation of a geriatric depression screening scale: a preliminary report. Journal of Psychiatry Research, 17, 37–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar