title: Secondary prevention of depressive illness among the elderly. A study of programme effectiveness.
abstract: A study was made of the effectiveness of a programme of case-finding and secondary prevention with regard to depressive illness among the elderly. The results suggest that there is probably not a large reservoir of undiscovered, untreated elderly depressed patients living alone in the community studied. No depressed patients were referred by social workers and ministers of religion. This should act as a spur towards achieving optimal integration of services. The importance of the psychiatric community nurse in a programme of secondary prevention was confirmed. The steep rise found in the number of depressives in the age group 80 years and older in the latter third of the 1-year period can be interpreted as representing some of the fruits of the case-finding efforts of the psychogeriatric community programme.
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D003863:Depression / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013019:South Africa