Programa Esperanza (Project Hope): A Depression Program for Older Latinos With Chronic Medical Conditions

Individual, face-to-face PST sessions over a span of 8 weeks will be held at PACE sites. The first session will last one hour while subsequent sessions will last 45 minutes. After the last PST session, each subject will have 3 monthly booster sessions (about 15 minutes). The PST protocol is intended to be highly structured, time-limited, and manual-driven; sessions include PST hand outs and homework as well as social and behavioral activation strategies, i.e., pleasant activities scheduling. All interventionists will document attendance and provide a post-session fidelity summary. 10% of the individual sessions will be videotaped with patient consent to assess fidelity and training needs.

EUC patients will receive psychoeducational materials on depression and depression treatment of older persons. EUC patients will continue to receive the full complement of PACE services (medical, rehabilitation, social) including referrals to specialty mental health services, if indicated.