Senior Behavioral Health Service Program, University of California, San Francisco, CA
Principal Investigator: Pat Arean, Ph.D.
Lead Evaluator: Karen Linkins, Ph.D.
Project Manager: Heather Bornfeld, Ph.D.
The Senior Behavioral Health Service (SBHS) Program is a community-based training, consultation, and service delivery program that is based on a chronic-illness care model. SBHS targets older adults who are living in residential care facilities in Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo counties. Residential care facilities include licensed board and care homes, assisted living facilities, and skilled nursing facilities; the sizes of these facilities range from four beds to 200 beds.
The SBHS will expand its services to provide evidence-based prevention, early intervention, and treatment of depression and agitation for elderly people living in these residential facilities. Specifically, the program will create SBHS teams to train facility managers to screen for mental health problems, to provide direct treatment services, and to train residential facility staff to manage depression and agitation. The program will also create a better coordinated service linkage between residential facility and health providers. The SBHS will involve facility staff, consumers, and families in monthly care management meetings and it will conduct service evaluations.
SBHS is run by a strong leadership team with expertise in evidence-based practices and in integrating and adapting models for community settings.