NOn-Traditional providers to support the management of Elderly People
NOTEPAD
| Chief Investigator: |
Professor Carolyn Chew-Graham |
| Principal Investigator: |
Dr Heather Burroughs |
| Study Co-ordinator: |
Tom Shepherd |
| Funder name / reference number: | HS&DR 13/54/34 |
| Year | 2015-2017 |
Study design
The specific aim is to refine a community-based psychosocial intervention for older people with anxiety and/or depression. The intervention will comprise a two-stage process of one-to-one contact, utilizing behavioural activation (BA), based on the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and including the option of sign-posting to group activity.
Primary objective
Phase 1: synthesis of evidence to refine the intervention: qualitative study and analysis.
Phase 2: will assess the feasibility of recruiting and training third sector practitioners to be able to deliver the psychosocial intervention refined in Phase 1 to older people with anxiety and/or depression.
Phase 3: comprises a feasibility study to evaluate whether we can recruit general practices and patients into the study, whether third sector practioners (NTPs) can deliver the intervention to older people, with sufficient fidelity; whether this approach is acceptable to patients, general practitioners and the third sector providers, and gather data to inform a definitive randomized controlled trial.
Interventions
Psychosocial intervention for older people with anxiety and depression, delivered by third sector support workers.
Training Materials
The Notepad training programme aims to train workers from the third sector to deliver a psychological intervention to older people in the community who have depression and/or anxiety.
The training programme is delivered over 3 days, and by the end of the training support workers should be able to deliver an individually tailored intervention on principles of Behavioural Activation (BA) to depressed and/or anxious older people.
The NOTEPAD study has been funded by NIHR HS & DR in collaboration with Age UK. The aim of the study is to test the feasibility of training third sector workers (from Age UK) to deliver an intervention to older people with anxiety and depression.
The intervention, developed in the research team’s previous research, was refined following a systematic review, data from a qualitative study and discussion at an expert consensus meeting.
The intervention is based on the principles of Behavioural Activation. It is a 6 week intervention designed to be flexible in its content and delivery, and is intended to be delivered in patient’s own homes.
The NOTEPAD training programme aims to train workers from the third sector to deliver a psychosocial intervention to older people in the community who have depression and/or anxiety.
The training programme is delivered over 3 days, included here are the slides, the support worker manual, and resources which can be given to patients.
At the end of the training Support Workers should be able to deliver an individually tailored intervention on principles of Behavioural Activation (BA) to depressed and/or anxious older people.
The training programme is delivered over three days (plus a refresher session). Support Worker skills are developed through instruction, discussion, demonstration and practice using role-play with simulated patients. Support workers then keep the training manual which contains all of the information covered in the training programme for their own reference.
The training programme covers:
- Basic practitioner skills such as how to arrange and review a session, how to document sessions, and it includes the opportunity to practice communication skills.
- Essential practitioner skill ssuch as risk assessment, safeguarding and when to contact the GP.
- Mental health skills such as an introduction to depression and anxiety in older people, assessment (including risk), understanding the problem and problem definition, setting and reviewing goals, and staying well.
- It also covers the aims of the NOTEPAD intervention and research study, how to explain and use the patient manual and resources supervision.
Download the
These documents present independent research funded by the NIHR (HS&DR Reference number: 13/54/34). Professor Carolyn Chew-Graham is supported by NIHR Collaborations for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care West Midlands. The views expressed in these documents are those of the author(s) and not neccessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR, or the Department of Health.