Cluster randomised controlled trial for late life depression in socioeconomically deprived areas of São Paulo, Brazil: a pilot study

Abstract

This pilot study aims to access the feasibility of a future clinical trial that will test the cost-effectiveness of an improved program for the management of depression in elderly people attending primary health care services in São Paulo, Brazil. Participants in this pilot study will be 91 elderly people (i.e., 60 years or over) with depression attending three primary health care clinics with Family Health Strategy teams (UBS-ESF), and 30 health care professionals working at these UBS-ESF. The pilot study will be carried out in three stages. In Stage 1, we will develop and improve the research protocol that will be used to assess participants in the future clinical trial, and the intervention protocol for the new program for the management of depression in elderly people (i.e., CITED protocol). In Stage 2, we will employ the research and the CITED protocol developed in Stage 1 in a sample of participants similar to the target population of the future clinical trial (i.e., elderly people attending primary health care services in São Paulo, Brazil). In Stage 3, we will evaluate, with interviews and focal groups, the experience and the perception of the elderly and the health care professionals who participated in Stage 2 of the pilot study. (AU)