A longitudinal follow-up study of elderly patients with major depression treated in the inpatient program, with research aims of identifying 1) biomedical, 2) psychosocial, and 3) social characteristics associated with post-treatment health status outcome, and, 4) characteristics of caregiver(s) associated with the patient including caregiver health status.

Representative research publication:
Casten RJ, Rovner BW, Shmuely-Dulitzki Y, Pasternak RE, Pelchat R, Ranen N.  "Predictors of Recovery from Major Depression among Geriatric Psychiatry Inpatients:  The Importance of Caregivers' Beliefs". International Psychogeriatrics, 11:  149-157, 1999.

Abstract

Caregiver support is an important factor in recovery from depression among older patients.  We examined whether caregivers' perceptions regarding patients' ability to control depressive symptoms were related to depression recovery.  Depression treatment, demographics, number of depressive symptoms, and health were controlled.  The sample comprised 51 geriatric psychiatry inpatients who met DSM-IV criteria for major depression and who had a primary caregiver.  Depression was assessed at both admission and discharge.  Caregivers were asked to indicate whether they believed their patient-relatives could control their depressive syptoms.  At  discharge, 33 patients (64.7%) were "remitted" and 18 (35.3%) were "nonremitted."  Multivariate analyses indicated that receiving electroconvulsive treatment, having fewer depressive symptoms caregivers perceived to be within patient control, and being female predicted depression remission at discharge.  This study highlights the important relationship between family dynamics and course of depression.

Casten RJ, Rovner, BW, Pasternak RE, Pelchat RJ. “A Comparison of Self-Reported Function Assessed Before and After Depression Treatment Among Depressed Geriatric Inpatients”. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 15 : 813-818, 2000.

Abstract

• OBJECTIVE: To determine whether self-perceptions of function among depressed geriatric psychiatry inpatients improved as their depression resolved.
• DESIGN: Two-wave longitudinal study.
• PARTICIPANTS: Older adults diagnosed with major depression (N=64).
• MEASUREMENTS: Participants were asked to evaluate their function upon admission to an inpatient psychiatry unit, and then again 3 months post-discharge. Subjects’ caregivers also rated the patients’ function at admission and 3 months after being discharged.
• RESULTS: Self-perceptions of function improved over time, while caregivers’ perceptions remained stable, suggesting that patient’s perceptions of function were higher at 3 months post discharge (when patients were not depressed) than they were at admission.
• CONCLUSION: The implication is that self-perceptions of function are more accurate when not depressed.