Feasibility and effectiveness of activity-scheduling as a guided self-help intervention for the prevention of XXXX and @entity148 in residents in homes for the elderly: a pragmatic randomized controlled trial.

@entity1 @entity308 @entity73 @entity102 @entity148
BACKGROUND: Elderly @entity1 living in residential homes are at high risk for developing major @entity308 , and therefore deserve attention in terms of preventive interventions. We evaluated the feasibility and effectiveness of a guided self-help intervention for the prevention of @entity308 and @entity148 in these residents. METHODS: We conducted a pragmatic randomized controlled trial in two parallel groups comparing the intervention with usual care in 14 residential homes in and surrounding the city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. A total of 129 residents with a score of 8 or more on the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) screening instrument, who did not meet the full diagnostic criteria for disorders, and were not suffering from @entity73 were recruited between April 2007 and December 2008. @entity1 were randomized to a guided self-help intervention (n = 67) or to usual care (n = 62). The main outcome measures were improvement in the level of symptoms of @entity308 and @entity148 . The secondary outcome was improvement in participation in organized activities in the residential homes. The study is registered in de Dutch Cochrane Centre, under number ISRCTN27540731. RESULTS: Only 21% of the @entity1 (mean age 84.0 years (SD 6.7), 72.1% suffering from two or more @entity102 ) completed the intervention. Although we found some large positive effect sizes on the CES-D, none of these effects was statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Although guided self-help may be promising in the prevention of @entity308 and @entity148 , it proved to be difficult to apply in this very old and vulnerable group of @entity1 living in residential homes.
