The reciprocal relationship between depression and disability in low‐income homebound older adults following tele‐depression treatment

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Abstract
Objectives: Research has shown ample evidence for reciprocity between depression and disability. We examined whether decreases in disability among low‐income, homebound older adults who received brief depression treatments were mediated by improvement in depressive symptoms and vice versa and whether the mediation effects varied by treatment modality.Methods: In a 3‐arm randomized clinical trial, 277 low‐income homebound individuals aged 50+ participated in behavioral activation tele‐delivered by bachelor's‐level lay counselors (Tele‐BA), problem‐solving therapy tele‐delivered by licensed clinicians (Tele‐PST), or telephone support calls (attention control). Depressive symptoms were assessed with the 24‐item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and disability with the 12‐item World Health Organization Disability Schedule 2.0. Along with mediation models, mediation was assessed controlling for autoregressive and contemporaneous effects.Results: Mediation models showed evidence of postintervention disability and depression mediating each other in separate mediation models. In the cross‐lagged model, in which autoregressive and contemporaneous effects were included, only the depression‐to‐disability path exhibited mediation. There was no evidence of difference between Tele‐BA and Tele‐PST. Although the temporal precedence of treatment conditions on the outcomes is apparent, we could not establish a temporal precedence between disability and depression as these two measures exhibited parallel improvement.Conclusions: Brief depression treatments for low‐income homebound older adults were effective in reducing both depression and disability among these disabled older adults. The importance of this study lies in the comparable effects of Tele‐BA and Tele‐PST. Lay‐counselor model is a promising alternative to clinician‐delivered psychotherapy for growing numbers of homebound older adults.

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