The care home activity project: does introducing an occupational therapy programme reduce depression in care homes?

The primary aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that depression severity in care homes for older people would be reduced by an occupational therapy programme. This was a feasibility study for a cluster randomised controlled trial and involved four intervention and four control homes in northern England. In each intervention home a registered occupational therapist worked full-time for one year delivering an individualised programme to participants. Pre- and post-intervention data for the Geriatric Mental State-Depression Scale (primary outcome measure) were obtained for 143 participants. Secondary outcomes included dependency and quality of life. No significant intervention effects were found in any of the quantitative outcome measures, though qualitative interviews showed the intervention was valued by many participants, staff and relatives. Therapist ratings and qualitative interviews suggested that the intervention was beneficial to some participants but no distinctive characteristics were found that might enable prediction of likely benefit on initial assessment. This exploratory study provides no evidence that this intervention produced benefits in terms of depression, dependency or quality of life. Lack of prior power calculations means these are not definitive findings; but numbers were sufficient to perform the required analyses and data did not suggest effects that would have reached statistical significance with a larger sample. This study highlights issues for consideration in providing such services in care homes.

A new version of the geriatric depression scale for nursing and residential home populations: the geriatric depression scale (residential) (GDS-12R).

The objective was to develop a new short-form Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-12R) suitable for older people living in nursing and residential care settings, including those persons with significant cognitive impairment. A total of 308 newly admitted residents of 30 nursing and residential homes in northwest England were interviewed using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15), the Mini-Mental State Examination, and the Affect Balance Scale (ABS). A 12-item version of the GDS was shown to have greater internal reliability than the 15-item version, because of the context-dependent nature of the deleted items. There was close agreement between the GDS-12R items and another indicator of depressed mood (a single item from the ABS). Furthermore, moderate to high levels of cognitive impairment did not affect the performance of the new version of the scale. The GDS-12R provides researchers and clinicians with a brief, easy-to-administer depression scale that is relevant to residential and nursing home populations.

Dependency in older people recently admitted to care homes.

OBJECTIVE: to investigate dependency and general health status of a cohort of older people admitted to residential or nursing homes for long-term care. METHOD: we assessed 308 people aged over 65 years within 2 weeks of admission for long-term care to one of 30 nursing or residential homes in north-west England. Dependency was assessed using the Barthel activities of daily living index and the Crichton Royal Behaviour Rating Scale. We collected information from the homes' records on diagnosed conditions and current medication. RESULTS: 50% of the cohort were in a 'low dependency' band (Barthel score 13 - 20): 31% of those in nursing homes and 71% of those in residential homes. In nursing homes, low-dependency residents were more likely to be self-funding than those with higher dependency. Of a number of broad diagnostic groupings, only a diagnosis of dementia was associated with nursing- rather than residential-home admission. Of 47 residents who scored 9 or less on the Mini-Mental State Examination (indicating severe cognitive impairment), 85% had no diagnosis of dementia, neurological disorder or other psychiatric disorder. DISCUSSION: the high proportion of new admissions of subjects with low dependency needs raises questions about the effective targeting of resources and about management of the boundary between home-based and institutional care. The existence of an important group of self-funded, low-dependency new admissions to nursing homes suggests a need to provide better assessment and placement services for those who are financially independent of local authorities. Many new admissions had conditions which might benefit from rehabilitation but there were almost no therapy staff in the studied homes. In some cases where severe cognitive impairment was evident, there was no evidence that the result of any formal pre-admission psychiatric evaluation had been communicated to nursing or care staff.

Depression and the response of residential homes to physical health needs.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the response of residential homes to four specific health problems of residents and the relationship between the quality of this response and the prevalence of depression. DESIGN AND SAMPLE: Post hoc analysis of data collected for a cross-sectional survey of homes chosen to represent "excellent" and "standard" care; resident sample sufficient to detect difference between 20% and 40% depression prevalence between two groups of homes (90% power, 5% significance). Three hundred and nine residents were assessed. SETTING: Seventeen residential homes in different areas of England. METHODS: Data were collected about aspects of the care provided, including quality rating of care plans. Standard instruments were used to collect resident data by direct and informant interviews, including assessments of dementia, depression, dependency, medication and specific health problems. RESULTS: Seventy-nine per cent of the sample were suffering from dementia; 40% of 194 residents who could be assessed for depression were depressed. Of residents assessed by research nurses, 72% had problems with mobility, 67% with stability, 40% with hearing and 46% with vision. Quality of response to these problems was variable. In a combined assessment of care plan quality and key worker awareness, 7% of homes' responses to these four problems in residents were rated as good. Seventeen per cent of depressed residents were so identified by their key workers. Good interventions by key workers were associated with less depression in residents. DISCUSSION: The response of home staff and community health professionals to physical health needs in residential homes is variable and should be improved. This study suggests that improving this aspect of care provision might reduce depression and thus improve quality of life.

Recognition of depression by staff in nursing and residential homes.

Newly admitted residents in long-term care facilities are particularly vulnerable to depression and the early recognition and treatment of depression is therefore crucial around the time of admission to a home. Staff from 30 nursing and residential homes were asked to assess newly admitted residents for depression using HoNOS 65+ and their responses were compared with residents' scores on the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15). The findings indicated low levels of recognition by staff, with rates ranging from 15% to 27% of those identified as depressed, depending on the definition of depression used. There was no statistically significant difference in the rate of recognition between nursing staff and other care staff. A staff survey conducted in the 30 study homes indicated that fewer than 2% had received specific in-service training on depression in older people. The findings suggest that more needs to be done to raise staff awareness of depression in residents of nursing and residential homes, particularly in newly admitted residents.

'Not knowing where I am doesn't mean I don't know what I like': cognitive impairment and quality of life responses in elderly people.

OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the extent to which elderly people with cognitive impairment are able to answer questions about their quality of life.Design and setting308 elderly residents were interviewed within 2 weeks of admission to one of 30 residential or nursing homes in north-west England. MEASURES: The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the Lancashire Quality of Life Profile (Residential) (LQOLP(R)), the Crichton Royal Behaviour Rating Scale (CRBRS) and the HONOS-65+. RESULTS: Of the 308 subjects, LQOLP(R) interviews were attempted with 213 who scored 10 or over on the MMSE. Of the 213, 77.5% were found to be 'interviewable', ie able to answer the majority of questions in the LQOLP(R) and in doing so to give answers in which the interviewer had confidence. Of the seven cognitive domains measured by the MMSE, visual construction and registration were not significantly associated with interviewability. While orientation to time and recall were significantly associated with interviewability, many interviewable respondents had poor scores in these domains. No respondents were interviewable who scored less than 2 (out of 5) for orientation to place or less than 3 (out of 8) for language or less than 2 (out of 5) for attention. CONCLUSIONS: A high proportion of elderly people can answer questions about their quality of life, even in the presence of significant cognitive deficits.