OBJECTIVE: To test the hypotheses that (1) clinical case management integrated with problem-solving therapy (CM-PST) is more effective than clinical case management alone (CM) in reducing depressive symptoms of depressed, disabled, impoverished patients and that (2) development of problem-solving skills mediates improvement of depression.

METHODS: This randomized clinical trial with a parallel design allocated participants to CM or CM-PST at 1:1 ratio. Raters were blind to patients' assignments. Two hundred seventy-one individuals were screened and 171 were randomized to 12 weekly sessions of either CM or CM-PST. Participants were at least 60 years old with major depression measured with the 24-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), had at least one disability, were eligible for home-based meals services, and had income no more than 30% of their counties' median.

RESULTS: CM and CM-PST led to similar declines in HAM-D over 12 weeks (t = 0.37, df = 547, p = 0.71); CM was noninferior to CM-PST. The entire study group (CM plus CM-PST) had a 9.6-point decline in HAM-D (t = 18.7, df = 547, p <0.0001). The response (42.5% versus 33.3%) and remission (37.9% versus 31.0%) rates were similar (χ(2) = 1.5, df = 1, p = 0.22 and χ(2) = 0.9, df = 1, p = 0.34, respectively). Development of problem-solving skills did not mediate treatment outcomes. There was no significant increase in depression between the end of interventions and 12 weeks later (0.7 HAM-D point increase) (t = 1.36, df = 719, p = 0.17).

CONCLUSION: Organizations offering CM are available across the nation. With training in CM, their social workers can serve the many depressed, disabled, low-income patients, most of whom have poor response to antidepressants even when combined with psychotherapy.