Treating Family Caregivers To Late-Life Deprssion Pts

描述（由候选人提供）：这是一份修改后的申请指导研究科学家发展奖（K01）的申请。该候选人是一名社会心理学家，建议获得知识和技能，为临床抑郁症老年人的家庭照顾者设计和实施社会心理干预。晚年抑郁与医疗保健利用增加、身体残疾扩大、认知障碍和自杀风险增加有关。虽然药物治疗和心理治疗可以缓解晚年抑郁症，但患者的长期预后好坏参半。为老年抑郁症患者提供支持和身体帮助的家庭成员自身精神和身体发病率较高，并且可能在患者的治疗依从性和反应中起关键作用。候选人建议的职业发展活动侧重于获取老年抑郁症的药理学和心理治疗知识，作为额外培训和研究活动的平台，重点是家庭照顾者对老年抑郁症患者的评估和心理社会治疗。此外，候选人的目标是掌握先进的统计技术，分析老年抑郁症患者及其家庭照顾者的治疗结果。本申请的研究计划包括一项研究，该研究将检查护理人员因素（知识、态度、负担和精神症状）与患者治疗依从性和反应之间的潜在关系。第二项研究将评估一项试点社会心理治疗，该治疗针对接受重度抑郁症精神病治疗的老年人的成年子女，旨在为这些护理人员提供信息和支持。护理人员所经历的治疗益处可能会扩展到老年患者，增加他们从抑郁症中恢复并保持健康的可能性。

DESCRIPTION (provided by candidate): This is a revised application for a Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01). The candidate is a social psychologist who proposes to acquire the knowledge and skills to design and implement psychosocial interventions for family caregivers to clinically-depressed older adults. Depression in late life is associated with increased health care utilization, amplification of physical disability, cognitive impairment, and increased risk for suicide. Although remission of late-life depression can be achieved with pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy, the long-term prognosis for patients is mixed. Family members who provide support and physical assistance to depressed older patients are at high risk for psychiatric and physical morbidity of their own, and may play a critical role in patient treatment adherence and response. The candidate's proposed career development activities focus on acquiring knowledge of the pharmacologic and psychotherapeutic treatment of late-life depression, as a platform for additional training and research activities focused on the assessment and psychosocial treatment of family caregivers to late-life depression patients. In addition, the candidate aims to master advanced statistical techniques for analyzing treatment outcomes for older depressed patients and their family caregivers. The Research Plan of this application includes a study that will examine the prospective relationships between caregiver factors (knowledge, attitudes, burden, and psychiatric symptomatology) and patient treatment adherence and response. A second study will evaluate a pilot psychosocial treatment for adult children of older adults receiving psychiatric treatment for major depression that is designed to provide these caregivers with information and support. Treatment benefits experienced by caregivers may extend to older patients by increasing the likelihood that they will recover from depression and stay well.