Mental Health Commission of Canada Guidelines for Comprehensive Mental Health Services for Older Adults in Canada

On October 12, 2011, the Mental Health Commission of Canada (MHCC) released the Guidelines for Comprehensive Mental Health Services for Older Adults in Canada. 

Coauthored with the Canadian Coalition for Senior's Mental Health, and developed with input from seniors,  families, service planners, and service providers from across the country, the Guidelines were designed to  support individuals and groups working to ensure that the diverse mental health needs of Canadian seniors are met in the coming decades. 

The full document has been organized into three sections, including evidence-based recommendations highlighted in grey boxes:

Part I: Framing the Context – Key Factors to Consider in Planning a Comprehensive Integrated Mental Health System for Seniors sets the context and explores the key factors that should be considered when planning a mental health service system for older adults, including guiding values and principles that underpin the recommendations and content of this document. 

Part II: An Integrated Model for Mental Health Services in Late Life focuses on the services required to support adults in later life, including models for mental health services in later life and descriptions of the functions of each resource, and staffing benchmarks for specialized seniors’ mental health services. 

Part III: Facilitators of a Comprehensive Mental Health Service System discusses the mechanisms that facilitate a comprehensive mental health service system, including recommendations about cultural safety, diversity, the role of caregivers and service delivery models.

The Guideline webpage  includes the Guidelines in PDF format as well as an interactive version.
http://www.mentalhealthcommission.ca/English/Pages/MHCC_Seniors_Guidelines.aspx

Mental Health and Addictions Issues for Older Adults: Opening the Doors to a Strategic Framework

Published in March, 2010 by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), Ontario, a not-for-profit, charitable organization whose vision is “mentally healthy people in a healthy society.” As a core responsibility, CMHA, Ontario develops and provides public policy advice that promotes mental health and improves the lives of people living with mental illness.

The aim of this paper is to concentrate attention on older adults with mental health and addictions issues and underscore the necessity for a framework that is specifically focused on this group. The aging population in Ontario, the increasing prevalence of mental ill-health in this demographic and the associated human, health and social costs provide compelling reasons to establish a framework that prevents mental ill health, provides for early identification and early intervention if illness presents, and supports seniors so they can live in their homes, in communities of their choice.

http://www.ontario.cmha.ca/submissions.asp?cID=519019

NICE Guideline on Mental Well-Being and Older People

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued public health guidance to promote the mental wellbeing of older people in primary care and residential care. The guidance focuses on the role of occupational therapy interventions and physical activity interventions.

The guidance is intended for NHS primary care and other professionals who have a direct or indirect role in, and responsibility for, promoting older people's mental wellbeing. This includes those working in local authorities and the wider public, private, voluntary and community sectors.
It will also be relevant for carers and family members who support older people and may be of interest to older people themselves.

The guidance complements and supports, but does not replace, NICE guidance on:supporting people with dementia and their carers in health and social care; managing depression in primary and secondary care; assessing and preventing falls in older people; obesity; commonly used methods to increase physical activity; physical activity and the environment; behaviour change and community engagement.

http://www.nice.org.uk/Guidance/PH16/NiceGuidance/pdf/English

Serious Psychological Distress among Adults Aged 50 or Older: 2005 and 2006

Results from the The National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) are summarized in this report. Main points from the report indicate:

an annual average of 7.0 percent of persons aged 50 or older experienced serious psychological distress (SPD) in the past year, with 8.8 percent of those aged 50 to 64 and 4.5 percent of those aged 65 or older having experienced past year SPD

Among persons aged 50 or older with past year SPD, 53.7 percent received mental health treatment in the past year, 6.2 percent did not receive treatment although they felt they needed it, and 40.1 percent did not receive treatment and did not perceive a need for it

Persons aged 50 to 64 with SPD, compared with their counterparts aged 65 or older, were more likely to have received mental health treatment (57.8 vs. 41.8 percent), more likely not to have received treatment although they recognized a need for it (7.9 vs. 1.3 percent), and less likely not to have received mental health treatment and not to have recognized a need for it (34.2 vs. 56.8 percent)

http://oas.samhsa.gov/2k8/SPDolder/SPDolderadults.htm