Managing depression in home health care: a randomized clinical trial

A prospective randomized trial was conducted to examine the effectiveness, feasibility, and degree of implementation of home health care quality improvement interventions when implemented under usual conditions by usual care providers. A total of 311 older adults were randomized to enhanced usual care (EUC) that included routine depression screening and staff training in depression care management for older adults or to the intervention group (INT) that included antidepressants and/or psychotherapy treatment plus EUC. Implementing a routine screening protocol using the PHQ-9 and depression care management quality improvements is feasible in diverse home health care organizations and results in consistently better (but not statistically significant) depression outcomes in the INT group.