mpliance, and satisfaction with care among minority consumers.
Examining the impact of treatment on family caregiver quality of life.
Documenting and examining the process of enhancing and as appropriate, further integrating MH/SA services within the two model organizations, with particular attention to staff experiences and perceptions regarding the adequacy and appropriateness of services for meeting the needs of minority consumers.
Investigating the predictors to treatment response, specifically, social support, trauma history, mental illness comorbidity, and preference for treatment.
Site-Specific Goals: a. Access to Treatment. We are primarily interested in the relative impact our referral and staff models have on use of mental health services by our older sample in general, and our African American sample in particular. We will assess not only access to traditional treatments such as medication and behavioral interventions, but also use of community support groups and other self-help organizations. These outcomes will be determined through self-report and billing data.
b. Adherence to Treatment. We will assess for patient adherence to treatment recommendations and reasons for adhering, or not adhering, to treatment. Specifically, we will ask patients about medication side effects, demands on patient time, and patient perception of treatment match.
Preference for Treatment. We will assess patient preference for treatment prior to treatment assignment and
relate preference to access and adherence.
Treatment Outcomes. We will look at the relative impact of referral versus integrated models on treatment
outcomes in older African Americans. Treatment gains will be compared between models and compared with white elderly outcomes. We will also assess the effect that traumatic events due to urbanization have on treatment outcomes for African Americans.
Caregiver Quality of Life. We will a...