Increasing Mental Health Access for Older Adults through Digital Literacy

Health Care Access

County of Los Angeles

Expand existing project, program, or initiative

Managing mental health is not easy. One of the many challenges to treating mental health is the lack of continuity of care. For at-risk older adults experiencing housing insecurity, a missed connection with a provider can have serious life-threatening consequences. Digital health tools are powerful ways to support mental health care. The COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed a significant increase in telehealth usage, about 78 times (Mckinsey & Company). This radical shift has facilitated easier and greater access to health care, redefining our approach to health care to meeting people where they are. The success of SCAN's Cyber Senior program, which has observed a 68% increase in technology engagement after completion, underscores the potential of digital literacy training. The proposed initiative aims to merge this effective digital literacy training with mental health support to increase access and help these at-risk seniors overcome the barriers imposed by their unstable living situations.

The grant will support the expansion of two existing programs under SCAN's community benefit branch, Independence at Home (IAH): Insights and Cyber Senior. Insights offers free, evidence-based behavioral health therapy treatments, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Interpersonal Therapy (IPT), to address depression and anxiety in seniors. Conversely, Cyber Senior delivers digital literacy education and training to older adults and their caregivers, offering them practical tools to enhance their overall health, wellness, and connectedness. IAH annually serves over 23,000 non-SCAN health plan members at no-cost with community-based services, helping older adults and caregivers through health and social complexities. This initiative uniquely combines both programs for a dual-purpose approach to remove barriers to mental health care access for older adults experiencing housing instability. Increasing awareness about online mental health services and teaching platform usage instills self-sufficiency among older adults - empowering them to take charge of their mental health journey. In summary, focusing on digital literacy as a pathway to mental health support significantly impacts older adults facing housing insecurity, providing them with convenient, stable, accessible care, key factors in effective mental health treatment.

The success of this initiative envisions an innovative, evidence-based solution to enhance mental health support for at-risk seniors facing housing insecurity in LA County through digital literacy education and training. Funding from this grant will allow SCAN's IAH to scale and expand its reach over the one-year grant period to an additional 300 seniors. In the long term, the ambition is to create a scalable model to improve health care access through digital literacy. Success means decreased untreated health issues and enhanced digital know-how among at-risk seniors. SCAN's commitment to innovative, evidence-based practices is demonstrated by its intention to publish results in peer-reviewed journals and share best practices with the community. This influences how SCAN shapes future programming to address health equity for senior citizens on a larger scale, aiming to redefine elderly care not only in Los Angeles County, but also to serve as a blueprint for other regions.

The success of the project will be gauged using structured methodologies. The Insights program leverages validated tools like PHQ-9 and GAD-7 to measure the effectiveness of depression and anxiety interventions. Since its inception in 2015, the program has shown a significant symptom improvement between 55% to 60%. Also, an important component of the program is the person-centered goals to treatment. Cyber Senior employs an assessment battery that measures social frailty, perceived technology skills, and overall tech engagement. Using tools such as the Social Frailty Index, the eHealth Literacy Scale, and a Technology & Engagement survey to assess the levels of digital literacy rates, feelings of social isolation, and quality of life. Pre- and post-training participation surveys are collected to continuously refine the program based on their experiences, satisfaction levels, and suggested areas of improvement.