Purpose
The purpose of this conference is to provide professionals of the public health, aging services, and mental health networks with implementation strategies for effective depression screening and management interventions for older adults.
Content
The nation’s public health and mental health networks, and the national network of state and area agencies on aging and other senior service organizations supported through the Older Americans’ Act place a priority on developing and evaluating interventions for older adults and disseminating and sustaining effective interventions in community settings. Given that depression is a key health issue for older adults, this conference will focus on the current evidence related to interventions for depression screening and management, and strategies to reach community-based older adults through a variety of settings where they live and congregate.
Form
This dynamic program features multiple tracks and ample networking opportunities for sharing depression-related programs, practices and services, and materials. Plenary sessions will address scientific evidence related to recommended screening instruments and interventions, including depression care management, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Problem-Solving Treatment. These large group sessions will provide an overview of tools and programs, and offer concrete strategies for community-based settings. Concurrent small group presentations with roundtable discussions will allow for idea exchange, networking, and collaboration. These discussions will address issues and challenges related to the implementation of evidence-based depression programs and will be facilitated by representatives from organizations with experience using these interventions and screening instruments with diverse populations of older adults.
CDC Role and Sponsorship
This conference receives primary funding support from CDC’s Healthy Aging Program within the Division of Adult and Community Health of the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. The Healthy Aging Program promotes a focus on healthy aging across a variety of CDC programs addressing specific diseases, conditions, and risk factors, and promotes the visibility and importance of older adult health at the national, state, and local levels. This conference aligns well with the Program’s goal to enhance the capacity of public health agencies and the aging services network to increase the awareness and adoption of evidence-based programs to promote health and quality of life for older adults.
CDC’s Healthy Aging Research Network
As part of CDC’s Prevention Research Centers (PRC) Program, the Healthy Aging Research Network (PRC-HAN) helps to meet these goals by working to better understand the determinants of healthy aging in older adult populations, to identify interventions that promote healthy aging, and to assist in translating public health research into sustainable community-based programs. The University of Washington Health Promotion Research Center serves as the Lead Center for the PRC-HAN, a consortium of nine universities participating in the PRC Program. In addition to the University of Washington, these universities include: Texas A&M University; University of California at Berkeley, University of Colorado at Denver, University of Illinois at Chicago, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Pittsburgh, University of South Carolina, and West Virginia University.
Partnership with the Georgia Mental Health Forum
This year, we are fortunate to be able to offer our conference in partnership with the Rosalynn Carter Georgia Mental Health Forum. Collaborating with local and statewide advocacy, research, and service groups, the Georgia Mental Health Forum is one of two annual public policy forums on key mental health issues sponsored by The Carter Center Mental Health Program. The partnership between CDC’s Healthy Aging Research Network and the Forum will contribute to wide conference visibility among local, regional, and national agencies; draw on a diverse audience; and build on existing relationships between public health, aging services, and mental health partners. The opportunities for attendees to network, share conference knowledge, and develop specific action plans for screening and managing depression among older adults will further enrich these partnerships.
Objectives
After participating in the conference, participants will be able to:
- Describe the roles community-based agencies play (i.e., screening for and managing depression) in addressing the impact of depression on morbidity and mortality in older adults.
- Improve reach for targeting screening and treatment programs by identifying groups of older adults within settings with higher rates of depression.
- Explain components of effective screening instruments, interventions (i.e., Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Problem-Solving Treatment), and models of depression care management for older adults.
- Describe several experiences of program implementation from the perspective of service providers and organizations that have implemented these programs.
- Describe the infrastructure needed to successfully adopt depression care management in diverse settings.
- Locate, employ, and evaluate tools, manuals and resources for successful training, dissemination and sustainability related to evidence-based depression care management programs across diverse settings and populations.
- Develop a vision for community public health, aging services and mental health professionals helping to achieve a future without depression.
Audience
Attendees will represent professionals of the public health, aging services and mental health networks who are involved in, or may become involved in, the implementation of community- and evidence-based depression programs for older adults. Specifically, the target audience will include professionals responsible for implementing depression programs in a variety of settings including community centers; home, residential, and adult day care settings; and other venues. Also included will be policy makers and champions for public health, aging services, and mental health programs, researchers interested in translational work, graduate students and trainees in the fields of public health, aging, and mental health, and others involved in the dissemination and sustainability of community-based programs. Community teams of providers, administrators, and other champions of depression screening and management are encouraged to attend together.