Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32586693›Full record

Trial reportThe American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry2021

Peer Companionship for Mental Health of Older Adults in Primary Care: A Pragmatic, Nonblinded, Parallel-Group, Randomized Controlled Trial.

Yeates Conwell, Kimberly A Van Orden, Deborah M Stone, Wendy LiKamWa McIntosh, Susan Messing, Jody Rowe, Carol Podgorski, Kimberly A Kaukeinen, Xin Tu

Open access · bronzeAbstract readRandomized Controlled TrialPragmatic Clinical Trial
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
22citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
3.1field-weighted citation impact, top 6% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

22 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 48 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Trial
  5. A Mixed Methods Effectiveness Study of a Peer Support Intervention for Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Results of a Randomized Clinical Trial.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2025
    Trial
  6. 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 · 2021
    Trial
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Review
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Companionship and Sexual Issues in the Aging Population.Indian journal of psychological medicine · 2021
    Article
  20. Social Disconnection in Late Life Suicide: An NIMH Workshop on State of the Research in Identifying Mechanisms, Treatment Targets, and Interventions.The American journal of geriatric psychiatry : official journal of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry · 2021
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Yeates ConwellDepartment of Psychiatry (YC, KVO, and CP), University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, NY. Electronic address: yeates_conwell@urmc.rochester.edu.
Kimberly A Van OrdenDepartment of Psychiatry (YC, KVO, and CP), University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, NY.
Deborah M StoneDivision of Injury Prevention (DMS, WLKWM), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.
Wendy LiKamWa McIntoshDivision of Injury Prevention (DMS, WLKWM), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.
Susan MessingDepartment of Biostatistics and Computational Biology (SM, KAK), University of Rochester School of Medicine, NY.
Jody RoweLifespan of Greater Rochester, Inc. (JR), NY.
Carol PodgorskiDepartment of Psychiatry (YC, KVO, and CP), University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, NY.
Kimberly A KaukeinenDepartment of Biostatistics and Computational Biology (SM, KAK), University of Rochester School of Medicine, NY.
Xin TuDepartment of Family Medicine and Public Health, Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics (XT), UC San Diego School of Medicine, La Jolla, CA.
University of Rochester · USCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · USLifespan · USUniversity of California, San Diego · US

Funding

The Senior ConnectionU01CE001942 · CE · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · PI CONWELL, YEATES · 2010 to 2014
$2.0M
NCIPC CDC HHS U01 CE001942
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo determine whether peer companionship delivered by an aging services agency to socially-disconnected older adult primary care patients was associated with improvement in suicidal ideation depression, anxiety, and psychological connectedness.

designPragmatic, nonblinded, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial comparing peer companionship, The Senior Connection (TSC), to care-as-usual (CAU).

settingLifespan, a nonmedical, community-based aging services agency.

participantsAdult primary care patients ages 60 years or older who endorsed feelings of loneliness or being a burden on others.

interventionTSC was delivered by Lifespan volunteers who provided supportive visits and phone calls in the subjects' homes. CAU involved no peer companion assignment. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome was suicidal ideation assessed by the Geriatric Suicide Ideation Scale; secondary outcomes were depression, anxiety, and feelings of belonging and being a burden on others. Data were collected at baseline, 3-, 6-, and 12-months.

resultsSubjects (55% female) had a mean age of 71 years. There was no difference between groups in change in suicidal ideation or belonging. Subjects randomized to TSC had greater reduction in depression (PHQ-9; 2.33 point reduction for TSC versus 1.32 for CAU, p = 0.05), anxiety (GAD-7; TSC 1.52 versus CAU 0.28, p = 0.03), and perceived burden on others (INQ; 0.46 TSC versus 0.09 CAU, p <0.01).

conclusionsTSC was superior to CAU for improving depression, anxiety, and perceived burden, but not suicidal ideation. Although effect sizes were small, the low-cost and nationwide availability of peer companionship justify further examination of its effectiveness and scalability in improving mental health outcomes of socially disconnected older adults.

Indexed as

Mental HealthSuicidal IdeationAgedAnxietyDepressionFemaleHumansLonelinessMalePrimary Health CareAnxietydepressionlonelinesspeer companionshipsocial connectednesssuicidal ideation

Identifiers

PMID32586693
PMCPMC7266585
OpenAlexW3033840304

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.