Factors influencing therapist-rated change in older adults

Current work on mental health treatment of elderly persons tends to implicitly assume that chronological age is the major determinant of outcome in the older adult population. This study compared chronological age within the older adult population with other client characteristics and with treatment process measures as factors influencing therapist-rated change during treatment in a community mental health outreach program. In addition, earlier findings that the elderly improved more than younger adults were replicated. Multivariate analysis found age and number of sessions in therapy predict change scores, with diagnosis alone being a good predictor of outcome with initial rating held constant. It is suggested that chronological age is neither the only nor the most important determinant of outcome in mental health treatment.