The systematic assessment of depressed elderly primary care patients

Studies of the primary care treatment of depressed elderly patients are con strained by limited time and space and by subject burden. Research assessme nts must balance these constraints with the need for obtaining clinically m eaningful information. Due to the wide-ranging impact of depression, assess ments should also focus on suicidality, hopelessness, substance abuse, anxi ety, cognitive functioning, medical comorbidity, functional disability, soc ial support, personality, service use and satisfaction with services. This paper describes considerations concerning the assessment selection process fur primary care studies, using the PROSPECT (Prevention of Suicide in Prim ary Care Elderly: Collaborative Trial) study as an example. Strategies are discussed for ensuring that data are complete, valid and reliable. Copyrigh t (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.