Health Care for the Older Mentally Ill

Despite the availability of pharmacological and psychotherapeutic interventions with demonstrated efficacy in geriatric patients, mental illness remains under-treated in older adults. Access to appropriate mental health care can be especially difficult for homebound and other frail, community-dwelling older adults who are often isolated from mainstream medical settings, such as primary care, where most mental health screening now takes place. This presentation focuses on interventions that reach out from traditional health care practice to provide care in the settings where older adults reside or spend a significant amount of time.

Martha L. Bruce, PhD, MPH is Professor of Sociology in Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Weill Medical College of Cornell University and in the Clinical Epidemiology Program at the Graduate School of Medical Sciences, and Associate Vice Chair for Research, Department of Psychiatry. A trained sociologist and psychiatric epidemiologist, Dr. Bruce conducts community-based services research aimed at improving access to quality mental health among vulnerable older adults suffering from depression. She is Director of the Research Methods Core of the Cornell ACISR for Late Life Depression, and Principal Investigator of a New York State contract to assess residents of Adult Homes serving elderly adults and adults with chronic and severe mental illness. She is Co-Director of the Ithaca-based Cornell Institute for Translation Research on Aging. Currently, Dr. Bruce chairs the NIMH Services Research Review Group and is incoming chair of the Board of Directors of the Geriatric Mental Health Foundation. Dr. Bruce is an active mentor to postdoctoral fellows and junior investigators. She is Principal Investigator of the NIMH/Cornell "Advanced Research Institute in Geriatric Mental Health," a national program that provides mentoring and consultation to junior investigators during their transition to independent investigators. She serves on the National Advisory Committee for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Health and Society Scholar's Program.