Social Connections and Healthy Aging (The Senior Connection)

NCT ID: NCT01408654

Last Updated: 2016-04-22

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: PHASE2
• Total Enrollment: 368 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2011-09-30
• Study Completion Date: 2016-03-31

Brief Summary

This randomized trial compares peer companionship to care-as-usual in primary care on the outcome of risk for suicidal behavior in late life. The investigators hypothesize that older adults assigned to receive peer companionship will report greater social connectedness and less death and suicidal ideation compared to older adults assigned to care as usual.

Detailed Description

There is a pressing need for interventions that reduce risk for suicide in later life. Older adults in the U.S. have the highest rate of suicide and are the fastest growing segment of the population. The investigators can anticipate a large rise in the number of older adults who die by suicide in coming decades. This application is in response to RFA-CE-10-006. Consistent with the CDC's key strategy of reducing suicide by promoting connectedness, our long-term goal is to reduce late life suicide-related morbidity and mortality by leveraging the resources and expertise of the aging services provider network (ASPN) to address unmet social needs of community-dwelling older adults. Our objectives with this proposal are (1) to examine whether linking socially disconnected seniors with peer supports through the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) is effective in reducing risk for suicide, and (2) to test an hypothesized mechanism for the association of social disconnectedness and suicidal ideation and behavior informed by the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide.

The investigators will recruit 400 primary care patients (200 men and 200 women) over age 60 years who endorse feeling lonely and/or as if they are a burden on others. They will be randomly assigned to either of two conditions. Those assigned to The Senior Connection (TSC) will either be paired with a peer companion or, if they prefer and are eligible, be trained and placed as a peer companion for others by RSVP. The comparison group will receive no further intervention ("care-as-usual" [CAU]). Subjects will be followed for up to 24 months with repeated in-home (baseline, 12, and 24 months) and telephone assessments (3, 6, and 18 months).

Conditions

Suicidal Ideation; Depression

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: PREVENTION
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Peer Companionship

Behavioral intervention: Receipt of peer companionship provided by trained, supervised volunteer companions.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Peer Companionship

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Peer companionship is provided at least four times per month over two years in the form of friendly visiting, supportive phone calls, and some instrumental support.

Care-as-Usual

Care-as-Usual in Primary Care

Group Type: NO_INTERVENTION

No interventions assigned to this group

Interventions

Peer Companionship

Peer companionship is provided at least four times per month over two years in the form of friendly visiting, supportive phone calls, and some instrumental support.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

Intervention is administered to the peer companionship arm.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Age 60 or older
• Primary Care Patient
• Endorses feeling lonely and/or like a burden in the the past two weeks

Exclusion Criteria

• Positive dementia screen
• Current alcohol abuse
• Psychosis
• Suicidal ideation with intent to act (current or past month.)

• Minimum Eligible Age: 60 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

FED

Sponsor Role: collaborator

University of Rochester

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Yeates Conwell

Co-Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Professor of Psychiatry

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry

Rochester, New York, United States

Countries

United States

References

Van Orden KA, Stone DM, Rowe J, McIntosh WL, Podgorski C, Conwell Y. The Senior Connection: design and rationale of a randomized trial of peer companionship to reduce suicide risk in later life. Contemp Clin Trials. 2013 May;35(1):117-26. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2013.03.003. Epub 2013 Mar 16.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 23506973 (View on PubMed)

Parkhurst KA, Daks JS, Conwell Y, Podgorski CA, Van Orden KA. Social network subtypes among socially disconnected older adults at risk for suicide: A latent class analysis. Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2022 Oct;52(5):963-974. doi: 10.1111/sltb.12893. Epub 2022 Jun 23.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 35735167 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

1U01CE001942-01

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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