Trial reportThe American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry2019
Engagement in Socially and Interpersonally Rewarding Activities as a Predictor of Outcome in "Engage" Behavioral Activation Therapy for Late-Life Depression.
Trial report in The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 98 citations in OpenAlex.
- Social reward processing in depressed and healthy individuals across the lifespan: A systematic review and a preliminary coordinate-based meta-analysis of fMRI studies.Behavioural brain research · 2023Pooled it
- Parsing within & between-person dynamics of therapy homework completion and clinical symptoms in two cognitive behavioral treatments for adults with anhedonia.Behaviour research and therapy · 2023Trial
- Modifiable predictors of nonresponse to psychotherapies for late-life depression with executive dysfunction: a machine learning approach.Molecular psychiatry · 2021Trial
- A Pilot Randomized Trial of Engage Psychotherapy to Increase Social Connection and Reduce Suicide Risk in Later Life.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2021Trial
- Perceived Social Support and Interpersonal Functioning as Predictors of Treatment Response Among Depressed Older Adults.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2021Trial
- PROTECT: a novel psychotherapy for late-life depression in elder abuse victims.International psychogeriatrics · 2021Trial
- Resting State Functional Connectivity and Outcomes of Psychotherapies for Late-Life Depression.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2020Trial
- Targeting mechanisms of change as a path to precision psychotherapy for community settings.Psychotherapy research : journal of the Society for Psychotherapy Research · 2026Article
- Remission is insufficient: predictors and mechanistic models of recurrence in late-life depression.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Review
- Engage & connect psychotherapy improves social reward responsivity and reduces postpartum depression.Psychotherapy research : journal of the Society for Psychotherapy Research · 2025Article
- Anticipation and Motivation as Predictors of Leisure and Social Enjoyment and Engagement in Young People With Depression Symptoms: Ecological Momentary Assessment Study.JMIR mental health · 2025Article
- A predictive and moderation model of depression in adolescents, and the creation of the Javier-Aliaga's single-item scales of happiness and self-efficacy (version 1.0).BMC psychology · 2025Article
- The 5D indicators of suicide risk in older adults who are lonely.Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2025Article
- Impact of Collaborative Care on Depression in Patients Aged 60+: A Secondary Analysis of the GermanIMPACT Study on Behavioural Activation.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Interpersonal interactions, sense of loneliness and perceived depressive emotions among older adults: A cultural-psychological perspective from heterogeneous roles of different relationships.SSM - population health · 2024Article
- Protocol for a randomized controlled trial of brief behavioral activation among older adult cancer survivors.Journal of geriatric oncology · 2024Article
- Review
- Elevated depression and anxiety predict future patterns of individualistic and collectivistic cultural values: A cross-lagged longitudinal network analysis.Journal of affective disorders · 2024Article
- Improving social reward responsivity and social connectedness in psychotherapies for late-life depression: Engage & Connect as an example.Psychiatry research · 2023Article
- A 50-state survey study of thoughts of suicide and social isolation among older adults in the United States.Journal of affective disorders · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectiveLoneliness and social isolation are associated with depressive symptoms, cognitive and physical disabilities, and increased risk of mortality among older adults. Socially rewarding activities reduce loneliness, and neurobiological evidence suggests that these activities may activate neural reward systems in older adults to a greater extent than other rewarding experiences. The current study was designed to investigate whether engagement in social and interpersonal activities (i.e., exposure to social rewards) predicts subsequent increase in behavioral activation and reduction in depressive symptoms in reward exposure treatment for late-life depression.
methodsForty-eight older adults without cognitive impairment and with major depression received nine sessions of "Engage" psychotherapy. Behavioral activation and depression severity were assessed by trained raters at baseline and weeks 6 and 9. Patients' weekly behavioral plans were categorized into three groups: 1) solitary activities; 2) social-group activities (attending a social gathering or a social setting such as church or a senior center); and 3) interpersonal-individual activities (engaging in an interpersonal interaction with a specific friend or family member).
resultsMixed-effects models showed reduction in depression severity and increase in behavioral activation over time. In linear regression models, a higher percentage of interpersonal-individual activities (but not solitary or social-group activities) predicted subsequent increase in behavioral activation and improvement of depression.
conclusionThese findings highlight the importance of understanding the effects of engagement in specific types of rewarding activities in behavioral activation treatments for late-life depression. Exposure to socially rewarding interpersonal interactions could contribute to the efficacy of psychotherapy for late-life depression.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.