The DFTA Receives the 2007 Aging Innovations and Achievement Award For its Geriatric Screening Initiative utilized by the MHA of NYC

August 31, 2007, New York, NY - At its Annual Conference, the National Association of Area Agencies (n4a) awarded the New York City Department for the Aging (DFTA) the 2007 Aging Innovations and Achievement Award for its Geriatric Screening Initiative that has been coordinated and administered by the Mental Health Association of New York City (MHA of NYC). The Awards are presented to various organizations and agencies in recognition of programs that address and find solutions to issues faced by older adults, geriatric service providers and caregivers in local communities across the country.

The Geriatric Screening Initiative: Educating the Elderly about Depression

The Geriatric Screening Initiative, utilized in partnership with the MHA of NYC, enables participating senior center and case management agencies to employ a Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) screening tool to determine if older adults may be at risk for clinical depression. The Geriatric Screening Initiative was conducted in 29 senior centers in lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and six local area case management agencies.

Senior center clients could participate in multi-lingual workshops, employing either a psycho-educational game or a storytelling format. A careful evaluation of the participants' gained knowledge was conducted after the workshops, and voluntary mental health screenings using the PHQ-9 screening tool were offered to each participant. Any senior adult whose score on the test indicated the possibility of depression was offered a referral to their primary care physician or a mental health professional. If elderly participants accepted a referral, the project staff requested consent to a one-time follow-up contact to determine the referral's outcome.

Training was also an important byproduct of the Initiative for case management workers in the targeted areas who treated homebound seniors. By administering an initial screening, these workers were able to "bring the message home" and inform and educate their clients about clinical depression, and how to seek available treatment methods.

"What we have found about the Geriatric Screening Initiative," says Lisa Furst, Director of Public Education for the MHA of NYC, "is that we have exceeded our target goal for the numbers of seniors we wanted to educate and screen. We experienced a larger than anticipated attendance at our workshops which indicates that seniors will take advantage of mental health education when it is offered. More than half of the seniors who attended our workshops opted for the mental health screening. Our results reinforce the fact that older adults are more likely than we anticipated to seek out resources dealing with mental health issues."

The Future of the Geriatric Screening Initiative

Ms. Furst cited future plans for the Initiative that includes: expansion of the interactive workshops and voluntary PHQ-9 mental health screening to senior centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City; and referral to caregiver support programs for seniors who are serving as caregivers and identify associated stress that affects their emotional wellness.

Another incentive that is planned for the program will be to issue conditional cash transfers (CCTs) to encourage at-risk seniors to follow-up with a treatment provider. CCTs may be a gift card or voucher toward obtaining goods that will be provided to seniors who have completed a follow-up appointment after having taken the screening. "There has been strong evidence that CCTs have proven to be an effective inducement to preventive health care," said Ms. Furst went on to point out that New York City recently introduced a similar CCT program that is being aimed at improving the education, health and employment outcomes for families living in poverty.

About The Mental Health Association of New York City (MHA of NYC)

MHA of NYC is a leading private, not-for-profit mental health advocacy, public education and direct services organization that works to change attitudes about mental illness, improve services for children, adults and seniors with psychiatric disabilities, and promote mental health in the community through its direct services programs.